Resident Evil: Revelations 3
by Lordius Dannius
Summary: Chris Redfield has been captured by a young man who appears to have a past with the Redfield family. He wants to see Claire Redfield return to Rockfort Island where he can dispose of her and her brother, but instead he faces a duo which hasn't been seen since 1998. Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen work together to rescue Chris and uncover the truth about Charles Fox and the "Lamb".
1. Prologue

_Here I am again writing another "how Steve could return" story. This one just popped into my head and I kinda like it a little more than "The Burnside Chronicles", so I'm gonna go ahead and write it. It's definitely not a sequel - these events are entierly different to the ones in my previous story. Enjoy!_

 _ **Resident Evil: Revelations 3**_

 **~Prologue~**

 _2014, TerraSave Facility_

"Hey, Claire."

 _"Claire!"_

"Claire?"

 _"C-Claire!"_

"Claaaiiire?"

 _"Cl...aire..."_

"Claire!"

Claire jolted slightly as she awoke from her trance, still seeing that she was sat opposite Moira in the cafeteria.

"You looked kinda lost for a second there," the younger female pointed out. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Claire nodded, taking a sip from the coffee that was still sitting before her. "What did you ask me again?"

"I asked why you joined TerraSave, but you sorta zoned out," Moira replied.

Claire's thoughts almost returned to her, but she was quick to block them out this time. "My brother got me a job here," she answered. "Fighting zombies isn't really my thing."

"Yeah, but you rock at it," Moira pointed out. "You're like a secret zombie-killing badass."

The older woman chuckled ever so slightly, stirring her coffee with a spoon. "Well, I've had experience in the past," she admitted.

"Oh yeah," Moira recalled. "Raccoon city, right?" She saw Claire nodding her head.

"Yeah," she answered, but her eyes made her look lost again. "Raccoon City..."

Moira waved a hand in front of her eyes to snap her out of her thoughts. "Gee, are you tired or something?" she queried.

"No," Claire responded hastily, forcing a smile. "I'm fine, Moira."

At that moment, a fellow researcher entered the cafeteria and approached the two women. "Claire Redfield," he said, "someone's come to see you."

Heading to the main entrance with Moira following her, Claire went to see who had decided to pay her a visit. Her eyes went wide upon seeing Rebecca Chambers - an old friend of her brother's.

"Rebecca?" Claire reacted, even squinting her eyes a little. She saw Rebecca wave and smile, walking over to her.

"Hey, Claire," she greeted. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Claire agreed, still seeming baffled. "How come you're here?" Rebecca's smile seemed to fade and she looked reluctant to answer, but she knew that she had to.

"There's something urgent I need to talk to you about," the woman announced. "Can we talk somewhere in private?"

Claire turned back to Moira and nodded her head, silently telling her to leave. Moira did just that, and Claire's attention was back on Rbecca. "Of course," she answered. "I have an office here; we'll talk there."

The two ladies walked for a few minutes, exchanging small talk to briefly catch up with one another, before finally Claire opened the door to her office and allowed Rebecca to walk inside. Claire followed and closed the door behind her, and that's when Rebecca took out her laptop and placed it upon the desk.

On the screen was a blue-eyed young man with golden hair which had been neatly swept to the side, and he wore clothing which either seemed formal or dated; he wore a white buttoned shirt and a brown sweater vest, and the look was topped with a white cravat neatly tucked into the man's shirt collar. There was a certain aspect of creepiness which Claire felt upon looking at this man, and it almost felt familiar to her as she listened to him speak.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega," the man began in a posh English accent. "The First and the Last. The Beginning... and the End." A light chuckle came from his lips. "Allow me to introduce myself, Claire Redfield. My name is Charles Fox. I don't expect you to know who I am, but I can assure you, my name will soon be forever printed within your mind."

"Who the hell is this guy...?" Claire reacted.

"Keep watching," Rebecca responded.

"You have caused me quite some trouble, Miss Redfield, and I have spent my entire life planning my revenge. You took away my family, so I will take away yours!" Claire's eyes went wide as the man laughed. "Your dear brother was returning from one of his missions. I had been monitoring Chris for quite a while, so I sent the Lamb to secure him and bring him to... a rather familiar location. Do you recall an island which was located off the coast of South America?"

She did. "Rockfort..." she gasped to herself, her breath shaky.

"It's been awfully empty for quite some time now," Charles continued. "The place needed a little love and attention, so I decided to make it Chris' place of execution."

"I won't let him!" Claire suddenly snapped, standing abruptly. "Rebecca, I have to go after him. I will not let him harm my brother!"

Rebecca stopped the video and responded to Claire quickly. "No, Claire!" she argued. "Don't you see? He wants you to go there! He'll kill you both!"

"He has my brother," Claire hissed. "Who does he think he is? How could I have caused him any trouble?"

"I'm not sure," Rebecca admitted, "but that's not something we need to worry about. I'm going to go and rescue Chris; you need to hide, Claire. This guy might send his "Lamb" after you."

"So you want me to hide while my brother's life could be in danger?" Claire growled.

"No," Rebecca replied. "I want you to hide while I go and save him, but I need someone to keep in contact with. After all, you're familiar with Rockfort Island's layout."

Claire clenched her fists and visibly looked distressed, but she let out a sigh. "Fine," she responded. "But do you honestly think you can rescue Chris all alone?" To that, Rebecca smiled.

"I'm not going alone," she answered.

 _..._

Rebecca sat in the back of the helicopter, staring out at the ocean. She turned her head to see her companion doing the same. Josh Green was the name he went by, but she knew that wasn't his real name at all. That was the name he gave himself after the parted ways sixteen years ago.

"Alright, the island is just up ahead," the pilot announced. "Prepare for landing."

The helicopter landed on a deserted edge of the island, remaining out of sight - hopefully. Rebecca hopped out of the vehicle, followed by her male companion. Once they had walked a safe distance away from the chopper, it took off and made its leave.

"Alright, so we're here to find some old friend of yours?" 'Josh' recapped. "Sounds like you're having a little reunion or something."

Rebecca almost laughed but instead only smiled. "That's why we're here," she answered, taking out a transceiver. "You there, Claire?"

"Yeah, I'm here," came Claire's voice from the handheld device. "I take it that you've arrived?"

"Yeah," Rebecca replied.

"Alright, there are two major residences on this island," Claire explained. "I don't know what they're like now, but keep your eyes out for them. If Charles is gonna be anywhere, he'll be in one of those places."

"And where do you think Chris would be?" Rebecca queried.

"The whole island was used as a prison," Claire recalled. "He'll probably be in any of the prison buildings. Oh, and Rebecca?"

"Yes, Claire?"

"There's an underwater facility on this island, too," Claire revealed. "It might still be completely intact."

"Got it," Rebecca noted. "I'll contact you if I need anything." With that, she put the transceiver away and looked at 'Josh', seeing him smirk slightly.

"So, you ready for this, doll face?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm always ready, Billy," Rebecca answered, the pair then staring ahead at the area they were about to explore.

 **~End of Prologue~**


	2. Book I

**~Book I~**

Both Rebecca and Billy stared ahead for a moment before taking a few steps forward.

"Claire told us to be on the look-out for a prison ward," the young woman spoke up, "but she also mentioned the possibility of an underwater facility being the place where Chris is being held hostage."

"Well, how would we get to it?" Billy asked her, holding his handgun close but keeping his eyes open for any danger.

"I'm not sure," Rebecca replied. "Let's not worry about that for now; I'm sure Claire can help us out with that, but first we need to explore the island."

There were a few more seconds of silence during the walk, but this time Billy was the one to fill it.

"This place must've seen better days," he muttered.

"It did," Rebecca confirmed. "First it was bombed, then it was made to self-destruct."

"You mean someone tried to blow up the entire island?" Billy queried, glancing at Rebecca and seeing her nodding her head. "Huh. Well, I've seen bullets do more damage. A self-destruct sequence should reduce buildings to dust."

"Look on the bright side; we can still find Chris' location without getting lost among the rubble," Rebecca pointed out, trying to see something positive in the lack of complete destruction.

"If there was rubble, I'm sure our Fox guy would've found a different den to bring his prey into," Billy retorted. This comment seemed to win the overall debate, since Rebecca had nothing to say to that.

There was a brief silence as they continued to walk, until Rebecca spotted what looked like a prison ward. "There!" she pointed. "That looks like a prison ward... Let's go take a look!"

"It's oddly quiet," Billy mentioned, almost sounding suspicious as he glanced around. Rebecca only continued to walk ahead.

 _..._

Chris began to open his eyes, his vision blurry as he forced himself to awaken. He was sitting upright with his hands behind his back, but as he attempted to move them he found that they were practically locked in place. Snapping himself to full conscious, Chris looked back only to see that his hands were cuffed to the chair he was sitting upon, and as he finally managed to scan his surroundings he saw that he was sitting in some sort of kitchen-like room with rusted metal walls. Outside a round window he saw nothing but water. He was at sea.

That's when he came to the conclusion that he was on a ship.

He heard voices up ahead, so he quickly turned his attention to see a young man speaking to another individual who he couldn't quite see, since the man was standing slightly in front of them. However, Chris' eyes widened at what he could see.

Bleached blonde hair, short but perfectly swept back. White skin. Black clothing, most notably being a long black leather coat.

No...

This individual must have caught sight of Chris awakening, since the young man before them turned his head to look back at him and the other individual gave a glass.

Black sunglasses. And Chris could swear he saw glowing eyes behind those shades.

Before Chris could stare for too long, they swiftly turned away and marched down the corridor when turning a corner.

There was no way it could have been who Chris thought it was.

Was there?

The young man with blue eyes was now standing before him, which Chris barely noticed until he spoke up.

"It's nice to see you awakening, Chris Redfield," he greeted with a smirk.

"Who the hell are you?" Chris hissed through grit teeth, struggling against his cuffs.

"Oh, I forgot! I did not introduce myself to you properly," he said. "I am Charles Fox, and this is my ship. I recommend you get comfortable; you may be here for a while."

"What the hell do you want from me?" Chris interrogated, fire in his eyes. This man did not look familiar to him.

Charles merely gave a chuckle. "It is not I who has made plans for you, Chris Redfield," he confessed. "My boss is the one who wants revenge on you, but not just yet. First my revenge plan needs to take place, and you must witness it; my boss and I both know that you will suffer once you see what is to come."

His boss was the one who wanted revenge?

The pieces were being put together far too easily.

Was that really him?

Charles laughed once again, seeing Chris' expression. Chris went from confused to worried as he tried to figure out what the British man before him was talking about.

"You look so scared, Chris Redfield!" Charles mocked. "Oh dear, it looks like I've given you too many clues."

"What are you talking about?!" Chris snapped. "Tell me why I'm here!"

"You're in no position to be making any demands, Chris Redfield," Charles responded calmly. "Just sit back and relax; your time will come soon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I, too, am a busy man, so I'll be speaking to you soon when I have some important updates." With that, the man turned on his heel and began to walk away. "If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed."

As Chris listened to his following laughter, he narrowed his eyes. Of all books to quote, why had this man chosen to quote the Book of Revelation? There had to be a reason, and it seemed that his quotes were to be used as riddles.

Currently, Chris was in captivity.

Was someone else going to be killed?

 _..._

Pushing open the door, Rebecca and Billy found that the ward they were walking into was dark and empty.

"This ain't right," Billy murmured after taking a few cautious steps. "Are you sure we're on the right island?"

"This is Rockfort Island," Rebecca confirmed. "This is where Charles said he was. This is where he said he was keeping Claire's brother."

"You'd expect the guy to have at least an army of zombies," Billy replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Charles wanted Claire to come here," Rebecca recalled. "He wanted to lure her into a trap. She's fought zombies and infected creatures enough times before - twice on an island."

Billy raised his eyebrow while picking up some abandoned supplies, such as ammo and a herb. "So you think this guy might have planned something else for her?" he questioned.

"Seems likely," Rebecca answered. "Come on; there's nothing in here."

The pair left the prison facility, still cautious but also baffled by the silence. Not even one infected human could be found.

They entered the remains of the training facility; with the building being large, Chris may have been somewhere here. But again, as they opened one door to the next, they only found empty rooms and few supplies, with no clues which could lead them to Chris' location.

"I don't get it," Billy said to Rebecca. "The whole place is just... dead."

"It's starting to creep me out," Rebecca confessed, still keeping her eyes peeled. "Maybe we should head back to the chopper for now." Billy nodded his head in agreement, leaving the facility alongside Rebecca.

While walking, Rebecca took out the transceiver and held down a button. "Claire. It's Rebecca," she greeted. "The island's pretty much empty. Not even a dead body has been spotted, let alone a zombie..."

"Nothing at all?" Claire reacted. "That is strange..."

"Josh and I are heading back to the chopper," Rebecca announced. "Maybe Duke can fly us around the island or something, I don't know. Walking around on foot has so far been pretty pointless."

"Sounds like a good idea," Claire agreed. "Alright. Call me again if your situation changes." With that, she cut the call.

Rebecca put the transceiver away, seeing the chopper up ahead. The propellers were no longer spinning, but this was not seen as a concern; Duke probably wanted to keep quiet while they were gone.

"The island's empty, Duke," Rebecca told the pilot as she climbed into the chopper. "Think you could fly us around the island? Maybe then we'd be able to find anything unusual much faster."

Billy climbed in and sat beside her but immediately noticed Duke's silence, though he chose not to speak up. Instead he just stared at Rebecca, waiting for her gaze to meet his. She stared at him for a brief moment before becoming aware of Duke's lack of response, so she turned and leaned over into the cockpit and placed a hand on Duke's shoulder. "Hey. What's going o-"

Her hand retracted as if she had touched a hot surface. As she lightly shook Duke, his body fell back onto the floor. It looked as if his eyes had been gauged and his jaw broken severely, with streaks of blood leaking from his wet sockets. Billy instinctively pulled Rebecca back by her arm, the pair both staring silently at the deceased pilot. Someone, or something, had killed him.

Keeping her eyes on Duke's body, Rebecca lifted up the transceiver once again. "Duke's dead," she simply revealed. "He's dead, Claire. It looks like someone - _something_ \- killed him."

"What?" Claire gasped. "Shit. Looks like there's something to worry about on that island after all. Just get away from the body; you don't know what killed Duke and it could've been infected with something."

"You're the expert," Rebecca muttered in an attempt to ease herself, slowly stepping out of the helicopter with Billy following her. "Right. Josh and I are gonna go back and look around some more; we need to find what killed Duke."

"Be careful," Claire warned before once again the conversation came to an end.

"Whatever killed him can't be too far away," Billy stated. "That might be the only thing on the island."

As he said that, a rubbling sound could be heard behind them. They were both quick to turn around, guns at the ready, but were both horrified upon seeing the helicopter breaking. Emerging from it was a large green hulking monster, which let out a mighty roar. That monster was formerly their pilot.

"What the hell infected him?!" Billy exclaimed, taking a few steps back.

"I don't know," Rebecca responded, again pulling out her transceiver while watching the monster as it appeared to analyse its surroundings. "Claire, you were right to warn us. Duke's turned into something horrible. He's huge and green; he's a monster, Claire!"

There was a pause on Claire's end, but then she spoke up with some simple instructions. "Run," she commanded. "Just run." At first Rebecca didn't act, but then she watched hopelessly as Duke locked his eyes onto the duo and grabbed the broken helicopter tail.

"Let's go," Billy said almost calmly, grabbing Rebecca's wrist and turning to run. He let go of her once he knew he had her attention, and together they ran towards the training facility. "The facility looks safe," Billy assumed. "We can lose him as we go in there."

The sound of Duke's heavy footsteps came to a sudden halt, which at first suggested that Duke had stopped running, but it was too late when both Billy and Rebecca realised what had really happened. A loud crash came from just behind them and sent them tumbling forwards; Duke had bounced up high and landed just behind them, causing them to lose their balance as he collided with the ground.

Duke immediately took a swing at Billy using the chopper's tail, but Billy flattened himself against the ground to narrowly avoid it. He caught sight of Rebecca watching him with worry so grit his teeth. "Go!" he yelled. Rebecca hesitantly stumbled to her feet, taking a few steps back as she watched Billy roll out of the way of another attempted attack. He was then able to find his feet, running after Rebecca. Both individuals made it inside the training facility and closed the heavy door behind them, but the lock wasn't going to keep Duke out for long.

"We've gotta keep moving," Billy clarified. "Come on, doll face." He turned to run, not giving himself the time to be amused by Rebecca's irritable expression, and together they ran deeper into the facility. They heard the door breaking down as Duke entered, but they just hoped that he would soon lose interest in them.

 _..._

Charles once again entered the same room as Chris, wearing a look of annoyance. "You're in luck, Chris Redfield," he announced. "For now."

"What are you talking about?" Chris snarled fiercely. Charles shrugged his shoulders passively and gave a smirk.

"Your sister was supposed to fall into a trap Wesker and I prepared on the abandoned Rockfort Island, but it looks like I underestimated her; instead two other people have been sent. I suppose even she understands that some lives are worth sacrificing in order to discover the truth."

 _Wesker._

He said it.

He definitely said Wesker.

Chris wasn't sure what to question. Why did this man want to bring harm to Claire so desperately? Why was she being sent to Rockfort Island once again? Who had she sent in her place? And was this man truly working for Wesker?

Charles giggled to himself when seeing the confusion and hate in Chris' eyes, his expression constantly changing. "Oh my, I can see the little men in your brain working so hard to process what I've told you," he mused. "Yes, Chris. My plan was to have you watch your sister die. I'm the one who wants her dead, but Wesker wants to make sure you suffer."

"What have you got against my sister?!" Chris barked, his brotherly nature guiding him to ask that question. "I've never seen you before; what has she ever done to you?!"

Charles' grin faded into a scowl, his own eyes now filled with anger. "She made my family lose everything," he hissed. "That is why she must be punished, Chris Redfield. The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

"Enough of your recitations, I want answers!" Chris demanded.

"The Lamb will be the one to end your sister," Charles declared. "I will make sure of that. It is his job to punish those who have done wrong, and your sister is his top target. She was the one who led him to his first death."

"Nobody touches my sister," Chris spat. "If any of you lay a finger on her, I'll personally send you into the burning lake myself - tell Wesker I'm not afraid to send him there again!"

Charles chortled. "Oh, how I can't wait to see Wesker deal with you," he chirped. "But by then you'll be broken after witnessing your sister's end. Although I suppose first I must dispose of the two sacrifices she sent to the island. I'll send a little prayer to the Lamb; he'll listen to my words."

He let out an ominous laugh as he once again left Chris to himself. Chris couldn't help but feel even more worked up now. His sister was in danger. And even worse, Wesker was back. At least, he thought so... But who else could it be if it wasn't Wesker?

The Lamb would need to be dealt with, too. Chris remembered finishing off on his last campaign, only to turn around to come face-to-face with a fist. After that was black, and then he was here.

He remembered the Lamb wearing black clothing suitable for combat, and he could definitely pack a punch. The Lamb was in fact a man, but there was something empty about him which suggested that he was not just a trained assailant. He appeared to be younger than Chris but older than Charles, with icy blue eyes as opposed to Charles' sapphire ones. He had ginger hair which hung over one of his cold eyes, and he never once said a word.

At least he could remember his face. That would make it easier when confronting him.

But first, Chris had to escape.

And he had to find out what was going on with Wesker.

 **~End of Book I~**


	3. Book II

**~Book II~**

Rebecca and Billy walked further into the training facility, hearing the sound of Duke's roars growing distant. It seemed that for now he was trapped outside.

"Whatever infected him ain't your typical zombie," Billy guessed. "Seen anything like it before?"

"I've seen similar monstrosities," Rebecca answered, "but nothing entirely like that. Claire's the one who knows about virus types since she works with them on a more analytical scale."

"Give her a call," Billy instructed. "We need to find another way outta this place if we wanna avoid our former pilot; I'd go and fight him but unfortunately your employers seem to enjoy sending out people armed only with handguns."

Rebecca didn't comment on what Billy said, deciding instead to just call Claire. "We're safe for now, Claire," she informed. "That thing was really weird... One minute he was just a dead body, but the next he was a huge green monster. And it was almost like he transformed at exactly the right moment, as if the transformation was initiated."

"Yeah," was all Claire said in response in a somewhat awkward vocal tone. "I've encountered this before. Well, something similar. But I can't confirm what the virus is; I'll need a sample of it or something."

"We're not sneaking up on that thing and stealing a piece of his flesh," Billy replied, having heard Claire.

"No," Claire agreed, also having heard Billy. "I don't expect the two of you to do that. Your main focus is to find Chris and find out what Charles Fox is up to. Try looking in the two residences I told you about, or maybe even the underwater facility."

"We'll check those areas once we're in the clear," Rebecca stated. "Right now we're in the training facility looking for an alternative exit; we don't wanna risk running into Duke again."

"There was definitely another way out," Claire confirmed, "but if the building is in a state of disrepair then there might be other ways of getting out."

"Thanks for the info," Rebecca thanked. "Alright. Josh and I are gonna look for a way out, then hopefully we'll find some information on Chris or Charles."

Billy looked at Rebecca once she lowered the transceiver. "What if we don't find anything?" he asked her. "This place has been completely abandoned; Chris might not be here, and there probably won't be anything to suggest what's going on. And I bet wherever Chris is being kept, Charles is with him."

"Something is on this island," Rebecca clarified. "Something is definitely here, and it did something to Duke. I don't think it's an ordinary BOW, either."

Billy shrugged his shoulders as he walked ahead of Rebecca, but they soon found themselves heading to the lower floor. In a way they felt safer down here, since Duke would probably no longer have enough intelligence to carefully wind his way down if he did get into the damaged building. But suddenly there was a feeling of unease.

Further progressing on this lower level, an echoed voice could be heard up ahead. A man's voice. Billy halted Rebecca before silently motioning for her to follow behind him, preparing his gun. He took slow and quiet steps forwards as they entered a large space - a space which did not seem to naturally belong in the original facility, but rather a room built recently.

At the other end of the room, up on a balcony, two people could be seen talking. One was Charles Fox, the other...

Was Wesker?

Charles noticed the pair and seemed startled, but then he immediately went from being shocked to being full of glee as he clasped his hands together happily. "Ah! So you two little sacrifices have arrived," he commented. As he said that, Wesker silently turned and exited through a door.

"Stop!" Rebecca found herself yelling, holding up her gun. "Wesker?! Is that really Wesker?!"

"Oh, so you noticed my boss," Charles giggled behind his hand. "Yes, Wesker is indeed who I am working with, but neither of us will be dealing with you. You are not necessary to us; we want Claire Redfield. But don't worry, the Lamb is going to make sure your journey here wasn't for nothing; Chris is watching right now, and, of course, my dear Lamb will be to accept your sacrifice."

As if on cue, the individual known as "the Lamb" crashed through a seemingly unnecessary window. Time almost seemed to slow down as his cold blue eyes locked onto Rebecca and Billy, though his face was half-concealed by a black mask covering his nose and mouth. Rebecca attempted to go after Charles as he fled through the same door Wesker did, but as she moved she soon found herself being violently tackled to the ground by the Lamb.

As Charles securely closed the door, the room began filling with a blinding smoke. Rebecca was able to push the Lamb away, clambering back up to her feet and pointing her gun, but she was quick to realise the new danger of the situation. The Lamb had disappeared into the smoke and was nowhere to be seen, but using her gun could be dangerous since she was also in this room with Billy.

"I can't see him!" Rebecca called out, assuming that Billy was somehow further away. He was, in fact, rather close to her, but the smoke made it difficult for him to be seen.

"You're not the only one," he grumbled in response. "It's too dangerous to use our guns; we're gonna have to take this guy out with our hands."

It was a good thing that Billy reached the exact same conclusion as Rebecca, who had already returned her handgun to its holster. There was then a silence between the pair, who both tried as hard as they could to look through the smoke, but the moment a shadow was seen by Billy it was too late. The Lamb, who seemed to have a visual advantage somehow, grabbed Billy by both of his shoulders and bashed his own head against the other male's. Billy grunted, which Rebecca managed to hear. She knew that he was being attacked, so she chose to follow the sound.

Almost running into the pair, Rebecca was able to see the Lamb was he held Billy against the ground. Rebecca grabbed him from behind, firmly hooking her arms around his and pulling as hard as she could. The Lamb struggled silently against her grasp, allowing Billy to kick him with both feet before rising back to his full height. He delivered a few punches to the Lamb's face, chest and stomach, even using his elbow a few times and ending his assault with a vengeful headbutt. At this point the Lamb slipped out of Rebecca's arms and vanished into the smoke.

"Where'd he go?" Rebecca asked, cautiously standing with her back pressed against Billy's as she held up her arms in a defensive stance.

"Not sure," Billy replied. "Don't let your guard down just yet, sweetheart; he wants to kill us both, so I'm pretty sure he hasn't left the room just yet."

Something kicked Rebecca's ankles, swiping her off her feet. The Lamb had crawled along the floor to avoid being seen and had made this move to bring Rebecca to ground level. The man straddled her hips and wrapped both hands around her throat, attempting to choke the life out of her, but it was lucky that Billy had been standing so close to her. He brought his knee into the Lamb's face, deciding to completely wrestle him to the ground in order to get him away from Rebecca, thus allowing the female to catch her breath and get back up.

Billy now had the advantage over the Lamb, holding him on his back against the ground. But the Lamb was not going to easily be held; he wiggled expertly out of Billy's hold and gave him a roundhouse kick to the head. Once again the Lamb disappeared into the smoke.

"Shit..." Billy cursed to himself, wiping his mouth with his hand. "This guy's tough."

"How are we supposed to beat him?" Rebecca asked. "If we use our guns we'll only risk wasting bullets and shooting each other, and so far trying to attack him with our hands has done nothing."

Billy glanced around despite not being able to see anything. "If we explore the room we might be able to find something," he planned. "We could find a lead pipe or something, then maybe we could knock him out - or worse."

"Good idea," Rebecca nodded. "Watch your back, and try to keep silent; we'll need to listen out for him if he tries to approach us."

The duo split up, staying close to the floor as they felt around for anything they could use to fight their deadly opponent. With them being further apart from one another, the Lamb knew that he couldn't go for them both at once, but he also knew that it may be easier to finish one off without any interruptions. He chose to stalk Rebecca, since she was the one who seemed to be better known by his superiors. Also, she appeared to be physically weaker.

Rebecca was able to hear him as he stepped close, quickly turning around. The Lamb went to grab her, but Rebecca was swift to dodge. She hadn't found anything to defend herself with yet, so was simply avoiding the Lamb's melee attacks as she kept her eyes peeled for anything that could be useful. As she approached a corner she stumbled over a pile of wooden planks, presumably from a fallen beam or broken crate. Regardless of their origins, Rebecca grabbed the plank and swung it at the Lamb. The young man blocked the attack with his arm, expressing no pain, but as he did this Rebecca made the risky decision of whipping out her handgun and firing at him. The bullet struck his shoulder.

The Lamb grit his teeth, but his reaction was not typical for someone who had just been shot. He firmly grasped the wooden plank in Rebecca's grip, using it to drag her closer before kneeing her hard in the stomach. The woman was winded, making her a vulnerable target. The Lamb threw her to the ground and even managed to snatch her handgun in the process, aiming it down at her with a hateful expression on his face. But Billy emerged from the smoke suddenly, striking the Lamb in the side of the abdomen with a rusty pipe. Surprisingly, the Lamb let out a yell of pain and stumbled back, almost falling straight to his knees while dropping Rebecca's gun. Billy took note of this and swung at him again, but striking the left side of his abdomen seemed to do nothing. This time the Lamb grabbed the pipe and swung Billy until he hit the nearby wall.

Billy grunted, seeing that he was close to Rebecca. He rolled out of the way of an attack made by the Lamb since the redhead now had his pipe, and as he rolled he briefly locked eyes with Rebecca before jumping back up to his feet. "There's something wrong with the right of his abdomen," he informed her. "We have to hit him there; it's like his Achilles heel."

Rebecca nodded her head. "Got it!" she responded, quickly reclaiming her pistol and rising back up to her full height. But the Lamb had heard the conversation, and it was quite clear that he understood exactly what they had said. He held the pipe with two hands, holding it defensively as he kept himself prepared for any incoming attacks to his lower body. He looked no different from a cornered animal at this stage, but his expression was still fierce.

Initially Rebecca made the attempt to hit the Lamb with the wooden plank, but the younger male blocked it with his pipe. This gave Billy the opportunity to shoot him, and this time the blue-eyed man let out a wail of pain. The bullet had hit him in that same weak spot - Rebecca and Billy definitely had the advantage now.

"We've got him," Billy confirmed, watching as the redhead collapsed onto his hands and knees. The older male raised his handgun, pressing the barrel against the Lamb's head while narrowing his eyes. He may have been strong, but he was still human. A bullet to the head would kill him.

But, despite the agony he was in, the Lamb had no desire to go down here. He wasn't going to die fighting. He instead chose to retreat, shoving Billy out of the way and staggering away quickly into the smoke. Billy and Rebecca both tried shooting in his direction, but it seemed that no bullets hit him.

The Lamb could be heard climbing the ladder which led to the balcony Charles and Wesker had been seen standing on, and then, unexpectedly, the Lamb proved to the pair that he could indeed talk. He spoke in a way which made him sound particularly hateful and vicious in an insane and unstable way.

"I am the first and the last," he spat fiercely, "and the living one! I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades!" A quick but unsettling fit of laughter came from the hidden Lamb, whose voice echoed through the smoke. "Revelation, one-seventeen to eighteen," he concluded, before his footsteps could be heard as he left the room swiftly.

"Crazy bastard," Billy hissed, trying to navigate through the smoke. "So he's making bible quotes too, huh?"

"Like Charles," Rebecca added. "What does it all mean? They're not referencing that book for nothing..."

"It's not gonna be a good reason," Billy told her as he found the ladder. "Come on, doll face, we've gotta get outta here; there has to be an exit this way if our little group of preachers all went through this door."

"Right," Rebecca agreed. "...Can you stop calling me "doll face"?" Billy only laughed at her request.

"I'm not letting that name go for a long time, sweetheart," he replied, finally leaving the smoke-filled room with Rebecca close behind.

 _..._

Chris could barely see anything which was playing on the screen Charles had placed before him. He briefly saw Rebecca with another man before the battle started. That same man who had attacked him, the Lamb, was the one fighting them, but the fight was obstructed by the smoke.

Since both Charles and Wesker were off the boat, Chris had found the time to break himself free from his restraint after much thrashing and struggling. He was up on his feet, immediately examining the room for a weapon. There wasn't one in here, so he chose to search in another nearby room. Luckily for him he was able to find a cabinet with a few guns left to spare, so he selected a handgun and a hunting rifle, also choosing to take a few boxes of ammo. Now all he had to do was get off this boat and reach Rebecca and her male companion, and hopefully then he could deal with Charles and confront Wesker. He had to find out about everything. He had to find out about Wesker's impossible return. He had to find out about Charles' revenge plans and why he was so bitter towards his younger sister. He had to find out who the Lamb was, since Charles had implied that he was not just an unfortunate infected stranger - he was something more.

And once everything was figured out, the three individuals had to be stopped.

Chris found himself exploring the boat, searching for anything useful to take with him before leaving and also looking for a suitable exit; it would be unwise to jump out into the ocean not knowing how far away he was from the location of Rebecca. He had to find out if there was a life boat on this vessel, and if not then he had to figure out how to man the boat himself. But he knew that he couldn't just head in any direction; coordinates were needed.

As he searched the various rooms, he found an area which almost resembled a study. Here he found a key which was labelled "Life Boat", so it seemed that there was an escape route after all. But he also noticed a piece of paper on the desk, which he curiously chose to examine.

 _..._

 _27/12/98_

 _The H.C.F. were able to secure a body which hosted a living sample of the virus we were after. Wesker has given me the task of extracting the virus from the body so that we may sell it to our customers - already we have found potential consumers. But I have also been tasked with examining the virus and reproducing it, but I have a better idea. Hopefully Wesker will accept my proposal._

 _E. Bryant_

 _28/12/98_

 _I have secured multiple samples of the t-Veronica virus from the boy's body. Something rather strange seems to have happened overnight - despite the controlled temperatures, a fatal wound located on the body's right abdomen appears to have healed. The virus is still repairing the deceased host, meaning that I now have more tissue to extract from._

 _Wesker has allowed me to attempt enhancing the virus rather than reproducing it. I am currently working on splicing the PR-Virus with the t-Veronica to create a serum which will produce instant results. Previously a host would need to spend fifteen years adapting to the t-Veronica in order to control it, and this process seems extremely complex, therefore I am aiming to erase this process so that anyone injected with my new virus will be in control immediately. If this works then I would be the creator of a revolutionary serum which may even explode on the black market._

 _E. Bryant_

 _29/12/98_

 _A truly amazing property of the t-Veronica virus was discovered today. Our specimen opened his eyes and breathed. He was speaking. The virus had repaired him and thus he now has a new life source coursing through his veins. The virus is keeping him alive. Currently he has to be kept even more secure, since it is difficult to work on a squirming body. Wesker has instructed me to continue taking samples from the specimen, but has specifically told me to make sure he does not die. He claims to have plans for him._

 _I have also been working on my new virus. Tomorrow I will have to try the virus on myself, and if something goes wrong I have instructed Wesker to terminate me. I have called this virus the VX-Virus. I hope my science has not failed me with this._

 _E. Bryant_

 _30/12/98_

 _I can feel it coursing through me. I feel so powerful. My blood is burning but I feel no pain. On the outside I have not changed at all - the only physical change is my eye colour. My eyes were brown, but now they are a bright pink with an unnatural glow. I believe I will be able to maintain control, but if something begins to go wrong I will do my best to document it here. But if this virus is indeed a complete success, then I can say quite proudly that I have created the most powerful virus on the planet._

 _I will not let you down, Albert._

 _E. Bryant_

 _21/12/98_

 _The t-Veronica specimen began to show signs of mutation. His right abdomen, where his fatal wound was initially located, now had a raised green scar with veins and what almost looked like green skin surrounding the area. Wesker ordered me to put him into cryogenic hibernation similar to Alexia Ashford, so that he may adjust to the virus. The process will take fifteen years, and the early signs of mutation could have an effect on him but I cannot be certain as of this moment. For now, it is my job to continue my work on the t-Veronica virus; I must analyse it and prepare my current samples for sale._

 _I cannot say that freezing the specimen was good on my behalf; I would have liked to have collected some more samples to work on producing some more samples of the VX-Virus, but perhaps that has to be put on hold for fifteen years. All I can do now is obey Wesker._

 _E. Bryant_

 _..._

The name "E. Bryant" was not familiar to Chris, but whoever this person was, they had a connection to Wesker and had worked with him while he was still working for Umbrella's rival company. It had been over fifteen years since these notes were taken down, and the purpose for them being here was not known. Chris' best guess was that the t-Veronica specimen was now awake, and Wesker was referring to these notes to recall how he was before being frozen. Either that or he wanted to look into the effects of the VX-Virus - this was a virus Chris had never heard of. The same could be said for the PR-Virus. They both sounded particularly dangerous but it surprised him that they hadn't been used long before this point.

There was definitely something strange going on here. Chris was trying to put the pieces together but nothing seemed to make sense. Who was E. Bryant? Was Bryant still working with Wesker or were their notes taken for reference purposes? Where was Bryant now? Dead seemed to be the right answer, since nobody survived working with Wesker for long.

Over fifteen years had passed since these notes were written, so perhaps they were referred to when the t-Veronica specimen was released. Was it Charles? Charles had never been seen before, and he seemed to appear out of nowhere with this hatred for the Redfields - Claire, in particular. He definitely did not have his mind in the right place, which would make sense for someone who was frozen for fifteen years. Bryant had also referred to the t-Veronica specimen as a "boy", implying youth, and Charles still seemed quite young - not much older than fifteen, in fact. Was he a child at the time?

Or was the t-Veronica specimen the Lamb, since he also seemed to appear out of nowhere? He was a young-looking individual, and no doubt he could still just be referred to as a mere "boy" fifteen years ago. Both young men had a connection to Wesker, who seemed to be in charge of them both, but still Chris could not make sense of the situation.

He just had to get off this boat and stop them all. He'd get answers one way or another.

 **~End of Book II~**


	4. Book III

**~Book III~**

Billy and Rebecca walked through the rough-looking corridors, which still represented the fact that these rooms were newly installed for some purpose.

"I doubt our runaway blondies have gone too far," Billy murmured as he held his gun, ready to use it.

"I hope you're right," Rebecca sighed, almost sounding worried. "I just wanna find out what's going on around here, and I've got to find Chris before it's too late. If that guy really is Wesker... then we're in big trouble."

"You might need to catch me up on the whole Wesker thing," Billy said, his eyes peeled for anything that may be useful.

"Wesker was once the captain of Chris' team," Rebecca explained. "That was a long time ago, and it turned out he was a traitor working for Umbrella. Then he became difficult to keep an eye on since he kept changing location and allegiance."

"Talk about an unfaithful man," Billy reacted, somewhat in a jokey tone. Rebecca only shook her head.

"He's one of the most dangerous men I've ever encountered," she continued, "and I'm sure Chris can say the same."

"So he's a dangerous guy who betrayed Chris' team some time ago," Billy summed up.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Rebecca corrected. "He's been behind plenty of fatal bioterrorist attacks, and a few years ago he attempted to unleash a deadly virus into the atmosphere, but luckily Chris killed him."

"The guy doesn't look very dead to me," Billy pointed out.

"That's why I'm worried," Rebecca told him. "Wesker's already cheated death once. If he's cheated it again then he must be even stronger than he was before. But it just doesn't make sense... Chris was so certain that he was dead. Could this really be him?"

"Might just be a fan," Billy guessed.

"It could be a clone, or... or a second body with his consciousness," Rebecca added to the list of theories. "Whatever's going on, Wesker has to be stopped. For good. And this time I'll personally make sure he stays dead."

"Just throw his body into an active volcano," Billy suggested. "There's no way any living thing could come back from that."

"Yeah," Rebecca agreed, continuing her walk through the corridors. Hopefully an exit would be found soon.

 _..._

Chris found the ship's life boat and was able to use the key to start the engine. He quickly used this boat to get away from his prison at sea, and not too far in the distance he could see an island. Rockfort Island. That's where Rebecca was with her companion; Chris had to get there and make sure she was alright, and hopefully he could stop Wesker once and for all along with his mysterious associates.

Upon arriving, Chris found a suitable spot to leave his small vessel and ran along the rocky landscape of the island. This area seemed particularly desolate and quiet, meaning that he had quite a way to go until he could even hope to find any traces of Rebecca and her male partner.

 _..._

"Look," said Rebecca, pointing ahead. "I think we've finally found a way outta here."

Billy nodded his head. "Be careful," he said to her. "Our pilot might still be after us."

"Yeah, and who knows what Charles has planned for us?" Rebecca added. "He might send the Lamb to attack us again, or worse: Wesker might attack us himself."

"We know the Lamb's weak spot now," Billy reminded. "I don't think he's got much of an advantage against us."

Rebecca pushed open the door, finding herself outside. She glanced from side to side. "It's all clear," she told Billy, who followed her out.

"Great," he responded. "Now all we've gotta do is figure out where to look next."

"Claire talked about those residences," Rebecca recalled, "but I haven't seen anything that looks at all like a residence around here."

"We've gotta look somewhere, sweetheart," Billy stated. Rebecca thought for a moment longer.

"And underwater facility..." she remembered. "Claire said that there should be an underwater facility around here."

"My guess would be that it's in the water," Billy guessed sarcastically. Rebecca rolled her eyes.

"Come on, we've gotta find out where it is and how to get into it," she said to him. "I bet Chris is being kept there."

So the pair wandered the island landscape, followed by the suspicious silence.

"I'm gonna give Claire a call," Rebecca announced. "She can tell us where to find the entrance to that base." Rebecca contacted Claire, and almost immediately the other woman picked up. "Claire, Josh and I are gonna look for the underwater base, but we don't know where to look. Are there any landmarks for us to look out for which might indicate where it is?"

 _"Well, when I was there it was pretty close to the main residence,"_ Claire explained. _"Is that still there?"_

"Haven't seen any kinds of residences around here," Rebecca revealed.

 _"Damn it..."_ Claire cursed, most likely to herself. _"Then I can't really help you, that's the main landmark it was close to."_

"What was the residence close to?" Rebecca questioned. "If you can remember anything which was near the residence you're thinking of, Josh and I might be able to still locate the underwater base."

 _"Hm..."_ Claire thought. _"It was pretty close to the prison and military training facility. You guys been there?"_

"We've just come out of the training facility," Rebecca told her.

 _"Alright,"_ Claire responded. _"Keep your eyes out for a little dock of some sort, and if you see a steering wheel, turn it. A submarine should come out of the water, and you can use that to reach the base automatically. If that doesn't happen, then I doubt the area is accessible anymore."_

"Thanks, Claire," Rebecca thanked. "Man, you've got a good memory."

 _"It's kinda hard for me to forget that place,"_ Claire told Rebecca almost hesitantly. _"Anyway, contact me again when you have an update on the situation."_

"Will do," Rebecca said last before ending the call. "Come on, Billy, let's get going."

Once again the walk was almost peaceful. Duke was nowhere to be seen and there were no other monsters lurking. Charles and Wesker had clearly prepared a specific execution method for Claire, and death by zombies wasn't going to be it. The question still remained as to why it had to specifically be the Lamb.

 _..._

Chris could see the prison and ran towards it, remaining cautious but also noting that no monster had come for him. A guard tower was standing. Chris figured that maybe he could contact someone from there - maybe Claire. Seeing that the tower was not surrounded by any kinds of monsters, Chris made his way inside.

Nothing was online and the technology was severely dated. It had been a long time since he came to this place, and since then the island had been abandoned. Chris did everything he could to boot the computers up, but nothing worked.

Then, when he had almost lost hope, a radio he had been messing with began to produce static, and voices could barely be heard. Chris tried to tune in, but a bullet narrowly avoided his head as it pierced the window. He quickly looked, and in the distance he saw Wesker holding a sniper rifle in his arms.

"Shit..." Chris rasped to himself. He tried to continue tuning into the radio channel, but bullets kept coming. Wesker was too far away for Chris to return fire, and he knew that Wesker would do anything to kill him. If he had been properly armed, he may have considered taking Wesker on, but Wesker had powers beyond ordinary men. Chris knew that it was best to fallback for now, and possibly return to this spot later. He quickly left the guard tower and ran, avoiding Wesker's bullets. Sooner or later he knew that he would have to face him, but before then he would need to find some stronger weapons and Rebecca, along with her partner. And he would also need to terminate Wesker's associates so that there would be no distractions in the battle.

 _..._

Charles was stood in a small room with the Lamb lying on a table. Somewhat furious, Charles had to tend to the damage done to the Lamb's abdomen.

"You're not supposed to feel pain," the young man grumbled. "You are the Lamb! You are not human like them!"

The Lamb said no words as a response, instead only grimacing slightly as his wounds were treated. Charles seemed considerably cautious while dealing with this wound, for he was wearing gloves and seemed very careful not to touch the area.

When the treatment was done, Charles had to wrap the Lamb's abdomen with bandages. This wasn't just to protect the injury and help it heal, but was also used to contain anything infectious.

"You should wear another protective layer to make sure damage cannot be done so easily," Charles said to the other male. "So when you next encounter those two rats, you will have no weak spot."

The Lamb silently sat himself up and found a bullet proof vest, adjusting it so that it would protect his abdomen. As he was putting the rest of his dark clothing back on, covering a red device which was located upon his chest, Charles looked at the computer screen, showing Rebecca and Billy as they approached the docks. The blond man grit his teeth. "Impossible!" he exclaimed. "How could they know where to find the entrance to this place?"

Charles paced back and forth as he thought about it, then he stopped when he reached a conclusion. "It's impossible for them to work something out like that," he deduced. "They must be in contact with someone. The only people who have been here are Chris and Claire Redfield... and I bet that Claire is the one they are speaking with."

The young man giggled to himself. "Oh, how useful," he mused. "My dear Lamb, we'll let them come down here. They're the fools for thinking they can defeat us and cheat their own fates. By luring them into a trap... we'll be able to lure Claire Redfield here for her execution at your hands, with Chris watching in person as he loses his beloved sister before he himself faces death at the hands of our boss."

His unhinged smile slowly became a hateful frown. "The Redfields deserve to pay for what they have done to my family," he hissed.

The Lamb could only nod in agreement as he kept himself in the shadows. He watched the computer screen, watching as Rebecca turned the wheel to call in the submarine. She and her friend were walking closer to their own defeat without even knowing it, and soon he would be the one to kill Claire Redfield.

That was something his body would make him do whether he wanted to or not.

 **~End of Book III~**


	5. Book IV

**~Book IV~**

"Well, what do you know?" Billy asked Rebecca. "Your friend Claire was right. How long is it since she's been here? Sixteen years?"

"I think that's about right," Rebecca answered, climbing into her submarine before Billy followed her. "I heard some bad things happened to her here. She doesn't like talking about them, so nobody really asks, but whatever happened really hit her hard. Only Chris knows the details, but he won't say anything, either."

"Must've been serious," Billy murmured as the submarine began to move following Rebecca's command.

"Yeah," Rebecca agreed thoughtfully.

The pair were silent until the submarine stopped moving, and it became clear that the pair had arrived at the underwater facility. Together they left the submarine and cautiously looked around, but they saw nothing.

"There's nothing down here," Billy pointed out.

"If that Charles guy is using it as some kinda hideout then I doubt he'd have loose monsters wandering around," Rebecca countered, walking with Billy beside her. Billy nodded his head.

"Good point," he muttered.

"Remember, we're looking for Chris," Rebecca reminded him. "And we should look out for anything useful on Charles, Wesker or the Lamb. There's clearly something going on."

"We'll get to the bottom of this," Billy assured. "Don't worry, doll face."

"Really?" Rebecca sighed.

"Yeah, really," Billy smirked.

"No, that's..." Rebecca cut herself off and shook her head. "Never mind."

Exploration led to nothing. Nothing was found. No information and no targets for rescue or execution. Even as they descended further into the facility, they didn't seem to be getting any closer to finding Chris Redfield.

But, within the depths of the base, the echo of a music box could be heard. It played a tune which did not sound at all familiar, but what was familiar was the voice of the Lamb.

Singing.

Rebecca looked at Billy and Billy returned her gaze. Neither of them said anything at first, worried about drawing attention to themselves, but they figured that whispering would be safe at their distance.

"That's the Lamb," Rebecca whispered in surprise.

"I know," Billy responded, equally as quiet. "What's he doing?"

"He's singing," Rebecca answered.

"But why?" Billy pressed.

"How would I know?" Rebecca shot back almost with frustration, but then she had an idea. She once again took out her transceiver, activating it to get in contact with Claire. "Claire," she whispered. "We need to keep it down, but Josh and I need your help identifying this song. We've never heard it before."

 _"Let me hear it,"_ Claire responded. _"It's not quite coming through. Think you could get closer?"_

"Alright," Rebecca replied. "Don't speak until I say it's okay to; the Lamb is the one singing and we don't wanna disturb him."

Rebecca carefully followed the sound, with Billy behind her. The echoes of the song became louder and it soon became clear that the Lamb was singing the same two verses over and over.

 _"There was a friendly but naive king_  
 _who wed a very nasty queen;_  
 _the king was loved but_  
 _the queen was feared._

 _"Till one day strolling, in his court_  
 _an arrow pierced the kind king's heart;_  
 _he lost his life and_  
 _his lady love."_

As he began to repeat the words, Rebecca quickly but quietly returned to where she and Billy were before. "Did you get that?" she whispered through to Claire.

 _"...Yeah,"_ Claire replied almost with shock. _"I remember hearing that tune a few times on the island. It was a lullaby for Alexia Ashford."_

"A lullaby?" Rebecca queried. "Just for one girl?"

 _"Yes,"_ Claire confirmed. _"And... I can't help but feel that the Lamb sounds familiar..."_

"You don't suppose he has a connection to this Alexia woman, do you?" Rebecca questioned.

 _"I can't be sure,"_ Claire admitted. _"As far as I'm aware, Alexia and her brother Alfred were the last Ashfords before their deaths. No one else should know that song."_

"Does this Lamb guy sound like Alfred?" Billy chipped in.

 _"No,"_ Claire answered. _"Alfred's voice wasn't exactly... very masculine. And he had a distinct accent. This guy... I can tell he's not from Europe."_

"So why would he be singing a lullaby for a dead woman?" Rebecca asked.

 _"I'm not sure,"_ Claire said in response, but then she seemed to realise something. _"Wait... Charles..."_

"Charles?" Rebecca reacted. "What about Charles?"

 _"The Lamb works for Charles..."_ Claire recalled.

While Claire was putting the pieces together, Rebecca and Billy both noticed that the Lamb had changed the lyrics to the song. Rebecca moved closer to the sound, wanting Claire to hear it; why would he change now, after repeating the same two verses so many times?

 _"There was a young boy here long ago_  
 _who met a very ruthless end;_  
 _he lost his life for_  
 _his lady love._

 _"But one day he was saved and reborn,_  
 _awakened from his frozen sleep;_  
 _he will execute_  
 _the nasty queen."_

And then, his singing stopped. So did the music box.

Laughter could be heard, but not the Lamb's. It was coming from behind.

It was Charles.

"Oh, my dear Lamb~!" he called out. "Our guests have arrived."

Rebecca and Billy turned immediately and saw Charles approaching, but they realised that he wasn't the problem. They turned again, but the Lamb was already in front of them. Billy was quicker to react, but the Lamb was even quicker. He used his arm to block Billy's punch and then shoved him back into Rebecca, causing Rebecca to drop her communicator. The young man then grabbed the transceiver and threw it to Charles, who managed to catch it clumsily. Then the Lamb grabbed both Billy and Rebecca by their heads and slammed them together to knock them both unconscious, succeeding to do so.

Charles chuckled to himself. "Oh, how magnificent," he commented.

 _"What's going on?"_ came Claire's voice. _"Rebecca? Josh?"_

Charles smirked as he spoke. "And the night will be no more. They will need no light or lamp or son, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."

He cut the call.

 _..._

Wesker was definitely no longer following Chris, but Chris kept his guard up just in case he bumped into anything dangerous. He couldn't help but feel frustrated; if he had tuned into the radio channel, he may have been able to call for help. Wesker would no doubt be hunting him down now, unless he intended to play a sadistic game.

Chris found himself getting closer to the ruined buildings, with a gothic, isolated house catching his attention. He had to find a way to get to that place.

While searching for a route, something suddenly landed in front of him and made an attempt to grab him in its large hand. Chris had quick reflexes, allowing him to dodge and roll out of the way as he drew out his handgun. If Rebecca and Billy were here, they would be able to identify this creature as their former pilot, Duke.

Duke let out a mighty roar. Chris frowned as he recognised what had caused such a mutation to a former human being. This was the Veronica virus, or something closely related to it.

Chris knew that a handgun would not take this creature out, so he had to think of a different way to defeat it. That's when he had an idea.

Chris began running back to the prison, with Duke following him and coming very close to crushing the man every now and then, but Chris narrowly avoided death by moving out of the way of Duke's attacks. He was sprinting as fast as he could, ignoring his body's warnings as he felt himself tiring out. He was looking for something that would explode.

To his luck, Chris managed to find some barrels of oil which would have been used to power machinery or fuel planes. Most of these cans had fallen over and spilled their contents, but Chris had his hopes up. He ran even faster, really pushing himself at this point as he tried to lose Duke. He had to do this so that when he shot a barrel close to the monster then he would be out of reach of the explosion. Unfortunately Chris could not gain enough speed to make the gap between him and Duke much larger, so he had to take a risk. As he ran past one of the barrels, he aimed his gun and fired a round into the can. He continued to run, but a small explosion launched him forwards, causing him to fall flat on his front.

As Chris pushed himself up, wounded, he could see that Duke was still standing, albeit he, too, was injured. Chris knew that the strategy was working and would kill Duke eventually, but he was putting himself at risk in order to do so.

Duke was still recovering, so this gave Chris some time to move further away. As Duke began bouncing towards him, Chris aimed at another barrel, but it was to his horror that this barrel was empty and did not explode once he shot at it. This meant that he had to swiftly jump out of the way of Duke, and now the two were once again close to one another. Once again Chris was going to put himself at risk as he ran, firing at yet another nearby barrel which did explode, injuring both beings.

Chris was really pushing it now. He had to fire at a barrel if he knew it was full. The man distanced himself from the weakened Duke, watching as the large monster made an attempt to lunge for him. That's when Chris fired once again, this time striking a barrel which did react and explode. Not only that, but it set of two other barrels, these two extra explosions inflicting further damage. Duke let out a defeated wail and fell on his front, his body shrinking in size as it returned to a damaged human form. Even if Chris had known Duke, there was no way he could identify such a broken body.

The man took some time to recover, deciding to use the First Aid Spray he had picked up before. He figured that after this short break he would head for the castle-like house, and hopefully there he could begin to understand what was going on.

 _..._

Claire was already in a state of worry, but then Charles once again spoke through to her.

 _"Claire Redfield,"_ he greeted. _"My, my, I've been trying to get your attention for quite some time."_

"What do you want?" Claire growled, standing up out of her seat as she held the communicator close to her face. "What have you done to Rebecca and her companion?"

 _"Don't worry about them, I don't intend to harm them,"_ Charles assured, his smirk practically audible. _"I only plan to keep them here for as long as you make me."_

"What are you talking about?" Claire snarled.

 _"Why, you'll have to come and fetch them yourself, of course,"_ Charles answered as though the answer were obvious. _"Now we have them and your brother. How many more people do you plan to send to us in your place? Or do you want this prison to once again thrive?"_

That almost struck a nerve. She never wanted to see Rockfort Island be restored. Although she knew that this was a trap, there was no other way around it. Charles was not working alone and clearly had an advantage, so no doubt sending more people would only cause them to fall into enemy hands, as well.

"I'll make you regret threatening me," Claire stated through clenched teeth. "You will pay for what you have done to those I care about."

 _"You'll have to get past your executioner if you want to make me suffer for anything,"_ Charles giggled.

"Mary's little lamb?" Claire huffed sarcastically. "I'm not afraid of him."

 _"Oh?"_ Charles reacted. "And to think that I picked the perfect man for the job. Oh well, it doesn't matter if you fear him or not; he will still kill you, and if he fails... well, then my boss will just have to intervene."

"Bring it on," Claire spat before slamming the communicator down onto her desk and switching it off. She was going to go and head to Rockfort Island herself an deal with this problem. She was going to save her brother, Rebecca and Billy. And together, the four would stop Charles, the Lamb and Wesker.

 _..._

After a long journey, with a few encounters with small infected creatures such as mice and bats, Chris arrived at the intimidating building. He made his way inside, using force to break down the door. This place had clearly been restored, since it did not look at all damaged and looked like a home for someone with a dark personality.

Chris always preferred to clear the lower floors first, so found himself walking into a library. There were plenty of books upon the shelves, most of them being about biology or other areas of science. There wasn't much fiction, although Chris did find himself picking up a copy of _'The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde',_ which stood out among the scientific texts. As he lifted the book, a page fell out. Chris examined the page, noticing that someone had written over a certain quote with their own ink, making the phrase stand out among the rest of the words.

" _It was on the moral side, and in my own person, that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both."_

Whoever owned this book, and this house, must have been insane or delusional. Chris wasn't sure if it was Wesker, Charles or the Lamb, or maybe some other unknown individual, who lived in this place and worked behind the scenes of the operations, but someone had taken the time out of their life to highlight a quote from an old novel. There would have been a reason, but for now Chris lacked interest. He decided to explore the rest of the lower floor, but there was nothing of interest. Perhaps he would find something more interesting after climbing the stairs.

 _..._

Claire was currently flying a small plane, heading straight to Rockfort Island. She knew exactly where it was. She didn't want to go back there, let alone go by force, but she had to. This was for Chris. This was for Rebecca.

That's when her radio began to crackle. Surprised, Claire allowed access to whoever was contacting her. It may very well have been Chris.

 _"Claire Redfield..."_ growled a familiar voice. It wasn't Chris and it wasn't Charles or Wesker.

"Who is this?" Claire asked, frustrated at how shaky she suddenly sounded. Then she frowned hatefully. "Wait, don't tell me. This is the lamb, isn't it?"

 _"You are a foolish creature,"_ the Lamb hissed. _"We knew you would come. You always go back for those you care about, don't you?"_

That was an odd comment, but she couldn't deny it. He was right, but Claire didn't see that as a bad thing. She would always go back to save those she cared about, but why was the Lamb mentioning this?

The Lamb chuckled. _"You're going to die,"_ he predicted. _"And I... I am going to be the one to kill you."_

"Why does it have to be you?" Claire shot back. She silently took note of the fact that the Lamb had hesitated. He still sounded hateful and determined, but there was a hesitation in his words, almost as if he didn't want to say what he said, or as if he just got lost in his own thoughts.

 _"You won't fight me,"_ the Lamb confirmed.

"I will," Claire argued. "I'm not afraid of you. You may have taken down my brother, Rebecca and Josh, but I will make sure you and your bosses pay for what they have done. I've brought plenty of guns; I hope you're all ready to get your asses kicked."

 _"Guns are more reliable than people... aren't they, Claire?"_ the Lamb asked. Such a question caught Claire off guard. The Lamb sounded almost like he had no idea what he had just said, as if it just came to him or as if he had been previously told to say those words to her. That was something Claire had not been told for over a decade, and she herself had only said such a quote to Moira. Did the Lamb have a connection to Moira? How did he find out about those words?

Before Claire could respond, the Lamb cut himself off. He knew what he had done to Claire. He had brought down her guard. He had found her emotional weakness.

There was no way Claire was going to let the Lamb toy with her. She was going to bring him down, along with Charles and Wesker.

 **~End of Book IV~**


	6. Book V

**~Book V~**

Charles sat laughing to himself as he sipped a glass of wine. "Oh, this is just marvelous!" he chirped proudly, his eyes on his loyal little Lamb. "So Miss Redfield is on her way here?"

"Yes," the Lamb answered, void of all emotion. Charles only giggled again.

"This is too perfect!" he exclaimed. "Soon both Redfields will suffer like they deserve!"

"But Chris Redfield has escaped," the Lamb reminded quietly. Charles grunted and rolled his eyes.

"Don't remind me," he commanded before smiling again. "Besides, he won't be going far. He's still on the island, according to Wesker. All we need to do is lure him in once we get Claire. Then we'll have the Redfields and our two captives to dispose of."

"I'm assuming you would like me to capture Claire Redfield to use her as bait?" the Lamb guessed.

"Hmm," Charles hummed. "That would be wonderful, my little executioner. Yes. Go and find her. Bring her here so that we have a little collection of captives, and then we will begin the executions."

"Wesker will need to be present," the Lamb reminded the younger male.

"I know," Charles assured. "Wesker will be informed once the plan begins to fall into place. Now go, my little Lamb. Go and find Claire Redfield!" The Lamb nodded his head once before walking out of the room, leaving Charles to himself.

Not too far away was a storage room which had been securely locked from the outside. Within the room was Rebecca, alongisde Billy, the latter being the one to awaken first. He sat himself up, rubbed his eyes and then stretched before scanning his surroundings, realising that he and his partner were in a new location - and trapped.

"Hey," he said as he nudged Rebecca to wake her up. "Wake up, doll face." Rebecca stirred and rubbed her own eyes, groaning in her sleep before waking up almost painfully.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

"They've got us," Billy grumbled. "Charles knew we'd try looking in this base, and now he's got us."

Rebecca gasped loudly, jumping up to her feet. "No!" she exclaimed. "There has got to be a way outta here! We came to this island to rescue Chris, not join him in captivity!"

"We haven't exactly joined him," Billy corrected, still sitting down on the ground. "He ain't here. He may not even be on this island at all." His comment actually made Rebecca think.

"You could be right..." she admitted. "What if this was all a trick set up for Claire? ...No. Chris has definitely gone missing."

"He could be dead," Billy theorized, causing Rebecca to enter a shocked silence for a moment. What if that were true? What if Chris was dead?

"We mustn't give up," Rebecca replied. "We'll find him no matter what, and we'll find out what's going on here."

"I'm sure we'll find the answers we're looking for," Billy said quietly, then deciding to stand and examine the room. "Think there's a way outta here?"

Rebecca helped him look around. "There must be," she responded. "There's always a way out."

"Looks pretty secure to me," Billy commented, his search not getting him any results. "I think these guys know what they're doing."

"We can't fail!" Rebecca shouted. "We came here to save Chris, and that's exactly what we're gonna do! And while we're here, we'll put a stop to these people! They have to be stopped!"

"Wait," said Billy as he climbed up on top of a box, staring up at the ceiling. "There's a ventilation shaft here. I just need to remove it somehow."

Rebecca walked over to where Billy was, looking up at the same area. "Hm. Is it completely secure?" she asked him. Billy attempted to grab and remove the cover, but it was definitely secure.

"Yup," he answered, letting out a mildly irritated sigh. "Look around in those boxes. There's gotta be something we can use to bust this open." Rebecca immediately began digging around in all different kinds of boxes, but she couldn't find anything useful. Her hope was fading, but as she was about to grab a box in the corner she spotted a crowbar. Picking it up, she held it up to Billy.

"Here," she said. "This should work."

"Thanks, doll face," Billy thanked casually. He began trying to pry open the vent, grunting as he used the crowbar at various different angles until finally the cover popped off. "There!"

"You did it!" Rebecca cheered with a smile. Billy then held his hand down to her.

"I'll give you a boost," he told her, "then once you're up there you can pull me up."

"Got it," Rebecca replied with a nod, letting Billy pull her up onto the box before he then helped her climb up into the vent.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, I'm up," Rebecca answered, holding her hands down to him, stretching them as far as she could. "Come on, we've gotta hurry." Pulling Billy into the vent was a struggle, but luckily Rebecca was able to do it. The woman had to catch her breath for a moment, but as she did she heard Billy speak up.

"We need to travel up," he explained. "It's gonna be tough, but it's the only way outta here; the vent has to be linked to the surface."

"Hopefully," Rebecca agreed. "Well, there's no time to lose; let's go!" And with that, the pair began crawling through the darkness of the shaft, searching for a way out before their disappearance was noticed by Charles.

 _..._

Getting out of the plane was one of the hardest things Claire had to do. This island brought back so many bad memories. Rockfort Island was once her prison, albeit for a short time, where she was isolated from the male prisoners and showered with a hosepipe like a dirt-covered dog. Everyone she met on the island, friend or foe, died during the incident with the t-Veronica virus. The only people to get away were her, her brother and, unfortunately, Albert Wesker.

Even though the island was ruined, with some distant structures clearly being new, Claire still recognised every area she could see. She could almost see her younger self running, searching for an escape route, as zombies staggered after her. She could heard the creepy cackle belonging to Alfred Ashford, and the sound of alarm sirens going off as she dashed through the airport. But most importantly she could hear... him.

Shaking her head, Claire glanced around the area where she had landed. Not too far away she could see a destroyed helicopter, which she immediately assumed belonged to Billy and Rebecca. Her blue eyes widened as she gasped sharply. "Damn it..." she hissed, looking back towards the island structures. There was no time for hesitation, so she ran as fast as she could towards the prison complex.

 _..._

The upper floor of the house still had nothing which interested Chris, and it was somewhat relieving that there were no BOWs. The atmosphere was still eerie, and the man never let his guard down once. He went from room to room until he came across a door which had been locked, so he had to explore in order to find the key. It didn't take long; he went into a nearby room and took the key from a drawer, using it to open the door he had previously approached.

Turning the key, Chris slowly pushed the door open and made sure he was ready to shoot anything which may have been on the other side. As he had expected, there was nothing. However, that didn't mean the room itself was nothing special. It was tidy for a reason, and it looked as if it had been used recently. Either that or it had been completely untouched for a while, and it had a somewhat ominous scientific look to it. Chris knew that something had to be in this room, something which could help him figure out what was going on with Wesker, so he entered and closed the door behind him, choosing to take a look around.

The man began scanning various files with his eyes, but many were just profiles on certain people and BOWs. It took a few minutes for him to finally pick up a page which had been ripped out of a book. The page had been written on only by hand, and it looked as though someone had been trying to keep it out of sight by stuffing it at the back of the small bookshelf, so Chris chose to give it a read.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I need you to stay out of my business with Tricell._

 _Don't think I haven't seen how you and Excella glare and squabble like pathetic children. Your fights are preventing progress from being made, and I'm growing impatient._

 _This letter comes to you handwritten because, thanks to you, Excella does not trust me. I'd rather not have her intercepting my digital messages._

 _While I have your attention, let me give you some instructions, since our contact will have to be cut for some time: I need you to continue working on your virus projects. Uroboros is weak to fire, so when those with imperfect DNA transform into disobedient pests, I need you to dispose of them with a perfected VX-Virus._

 _If you make any attempt to contact me, I will kill you without hesitation. All I want from you is that virus. Update me on the progress when I next contact you, and if progression is slow then there will be consequences._

 _Do not fail me._

 _-Wesker_

Seeing who signed the paper almost made Chris shudder, but then he chose to read the message again. He could almost hear Wesker reading it out loud, but after focusing on the subjects being mentioned, Chris finally began to ask himself some questions.

"Elizabeth..." he repeated to himself. He never knew anyone called Elizabeth who worked close to Wesker, which was strange. Chris then deduced that Elizabeth must have been E. Bryant, the one who wrote the reports on the t-Veronica specimen and the VX-Virus. Knowing this made Chris' eyes widen; E. Bryant was a woman who worked for Albert Wesker back in 1998, perhaps even earlier, and she remained by his side up until he began working with Tricell and Excella. Nobody had lasted with Wesker for that long.

Chris could only ask himself questions about the connection between Elizabeth and Wesker - questions which had no answer. He had to find out more about that woman, so he began digging around some more. His hopes were brought up when he found a tape which had been labelled: "1998: t-Veronica diary entries". Immediately Chris decided to take out the tape and watch it on the screen which was within this small room.

When the tape came on, a woman was making herself comfortable by her desk, facing the camera. She had brown eyes and sandy blonde hair which was kept in a short bob, and she wore a strapless black dress under her white lab coat.

 _"This is... Elizabeth Bryant,"_ the woman began, confirming Chris' theory about Elizabeth and E. Bryant being the same person. _"Today was the... first day of the extraction process. I've had to work with the t-Veronica specimen in controlled conditions, and I... I hope to make a proposal about what to do with the virus once I extract it."_

The nervousness in her voice was not something Chris had expected to hear from a woman who lasted with Wesker for so long, but he continued to watch. The video seemed to have been editted or damaged, since it immediately cut while Elizabeth was saying something about what she had found out so far regarding the t-Veronica virus.

 _"The body is healing,"_ Elizabeth said with shock after the video jump-cut to a later date. _"I don't know how, but it's healing. Such a process should be impossible when in controlled conditions... did I affect the body somehow?"_

The video jumped again.

 _"The specimen lives,"_ Elizabeth said, appearing even more shocked than before. She had wide eyes and was completely pale, and her eyes weren't even on the camera. _"He lives. I didn't know what to do, but... Wesker told me to keep working... I kept cutting into him and taking out samples while he lay there, screaming... "Stop," he begged me, "stop doing that!". ...I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I wasn't... I wasn't allowed to..."_

Chris could recognise the trauma in her eyes as she spoke. Again, not the kind of woman Wesker would have around.

The video cut, but it looked like it was the same day.

 _"This isn't what I signed up for,"_ Elizabeth sobbed. _"I'm butchering a boy. He doesn't stop screaming when I work, and I think he's still screaming now... God, I don't want to do this... But if I don't do it then Wesker will... he will..."_

Once again, the video cut. This time Elizabeth had her head down, and at first it sounded like she was crying, but when she lifted her head she was obviously laughing like a mad woman, clasping her head as she cackled. Chris noticed that her eyes were no longer brown, but instead glowing pink. Remembering the reports, he recalled that at some point during the t-Veronica experiments she tested her own virus on herself.

 _"I can still hear him screaming,"_ Elizabeth grinned, her voice sounding different now that she seemed to be broken. _"He's frozen, but I'm the only one who can hear him scream. I don't think it will ever stop... and I don't want it to. Is that what the perfect world will sound like? If that's so, then I should get used to it. Wesker doesn't want the weak, he only wants the strong. That boy is weak. That's why he was screaming. That's why he begged for his parents when I cut him open. That's why he thrashed and wriggled, trying to get away, as I took blood from his bleeding body. Isn't life a wonderful thing to play with?"_

The way the camera froze on the pink-eyed Elizabeth staring with a mad grin almost made Chris shudder. It seemed as though these video diaries, despite now being cut short, were made as a way for her to vent her true feelings, since in the reports she did not convey as much emotion.

Chris still wondered who this woman was, and why Wesker held onto her documents. He had clearly now seen this private video of hers; had he killed her? It was very likely that he did at some point. With Elizabeth being alive during the Tricell incident in Africa, it was quite possible that she actually survived after Wesker's supposed death. Did he kill her after returning from the grave because she failed him? Chris had to find out, so he chose to search some more. He still felt that he had time.

 _..._

As Claire entered the prison courtyard, ready to finally enter the ruined complex itself, she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

"Claire Redfield," came a voice. It almost sounded familiar, but not quite. Upon turning around, however, Claire realised the likely reason behind why she thought she had heard the voice before; before her stood the Lamb, wearing his dark hooded clothes and his bandana over his mouth, with his piercing blue eyes locked onto her.

"You..." Claire hissed. "So you're the Lamb."

"He calls me that because I'm a saviour," the Lamb said, referring to Charles and quite possibly Wesker, as well. "I will save this world, Claire, and I will kill the beasts who taint it." He drew out his two guns and aimed at her. "You're one of them."

"Heh," Claire chuckled coldly to herself. "You think I'm damaging this world? I've dedicated my life to trying to make it a better place. You clearly don't know me well enough to be my assassin; and that's why I'm turning the tables." The older woman pulled out a sub-machine gun and aimed at the Lamb, immediately opening fire, only to have the Lamb jump to the side and avoid being hit before he suddenly dashed to her side, grabbing her by her wrists.

"I'd kill you know if I had permission," the Lamb coldly told her, holding one gun to her head, "but my superiors have plans for you. They want you alive... for now."

"I'm not being a prisoner on this island again," Claire hissed, swiftly pulling herself free and pressing her gun against the Lamb's forehead. He retaliated by swiftly kicking upwards, striking her hard between the legs. Claire tried to hold onto her gun, but the Lamb yanked it from her grasp and threw it to the side before tackling her to the ground and incapacitating her.

"Yes, you are," the blue-eyed man said with a hint of smugness. "It will bring back memories for us both; memories of the good old days." Claire grit her teeth together, glaring up at the man, defeated.

"Just who the hell are you?" she demanded to know. Despite covering half his face, the Lamb definitely seemed to be frowning. Claire stared at him for a moment longer, trying to work it out. She was staring only at his blue eyes, which she felt were familiar. That might've been because something about this man reminded her of Leon, but... she felt as if she was looking at someone else she had met some time ago.

But, before Claire could really think about who the Lamb could really be, he delivered a ruthless punch to her face and rendered her unconscious.

 **~End of Chapter~**


	7. Book VI

**~Book VI~**

Billy and Rebecca had found an exit to the underwater lab, quickly having to swim up to the surface. Rebecca was not the fastest swimmer, so Billy put his arm around her and helped push her. Together they surfaced and caught their breaths, then climbing up onto dry land.

"Damn..." Billy coughed. "We're lucky the facility wasn't too far down or escaping from there would have been a death sentence."

"Well, only you'd know all about those," Rebecca joked while catching her breath. Billy frowned and punched her arm, making sure not to use his full strength. The man then pushed himself up to his feet, looking around at his surroundings.

"It looks pretty empty here," he described. He then turned to face the water, where he saw a boat floating by itself - the boat Chris had used to reach the island. "Hey," Billy pointed. "That's not a good sign, is it?"

Rebecca also looked at the boat once she was standing, a look of worry now on her face. "That could belong to Wesker," she gulped. "I hope he's not around here..."

"Let's go," Billy commanded. "We're pretty out in the open here; we don't wanna get caught by Wesker, especially without anything to defend ourselves with."

"Right," Rebecca nodded. "Let's go and look for weapons; maybe we'll even bump into Chris."

With that, the pair began running further inland in search of either Chris or some weapons, since they knew that they hadn't seen the last of their enemies just yet.

 _..._

The Lamb carried an unconscious Claire on his shoulder, only to have Charles contacting him. The man held his transceiver to his ear.

 _"My dear little Lamb,"_ Charles snarled. _"Our prisoners have escaped."_

The Lamb stopped walking, wearing a frown behind his bandana. "You're certain of that?" he asked.

 _"Yes,"_ Charles confirmed. _"It seems that capturing any of them is pointless, so I have a better idea. Once you find Claire, I want you to hold her hostage on top of the old prison. Make her scream. No doubt the others will all come to her rescue."_

"I already have Claire Redfield," the Lamb revealed. Charles could be heard giggling to himself.

 _"Excellent!"_ he exclaimed. _"I will join you at the prison facility soon, and I will contact Wesker at once!"_

"Understood," was all the Lamb could say before putting an end to the call. He continued on with his walk, only this time he was heading in a new direction.

 _..._

Chris could find nothing of use in the house, finally deciding to make his leave; he had rested for long enough after his battle with the infected Duke, anyway.

Elizabeth Bryant remained a mystery to him, but she was not important. Chris had to keep his focus on Wesker, Charles and the Lamb. They were the ones who were currently threatening him and the others. They had to be stopped.

As he left, however, he found himself coming to a halt. A scream had caught his attention - a familiar woman's scream.

Chris' eyes went wide. Any good brother would be able to recognize their sister's scream, and that's exactly what he had heard. "Claire!" he gasped, running in the direction of the distant sound.

Unbeknownst to him, however, Billy and Rebecca had also heard the scream. They, too, had decided to investigate it, although their instincts weren't as strong as Chris'; they had no idea that they had just heard Claire shrieking, but they knew that someone was in danger.

That was the moment when everyone met at the old prison, with Rebecca and Billy finally crossing paths with Chris.

"Chris!" Rebecca exclaimed as she ran to the location. Joy filled her eyes to the point where the emotion was almost spilling out.

"Rebecca," Chris responded, his joy not at all there. He was happy to see her, but his attention immediately turned to the roof of the building. There stood Claire, her arms bound behind her back as the Lamb firmly grasped her by her ponytail.

"It's the Lamb," Billy growled, remaining rather calm.

"Shit," Rebecca cursed. "He's got Claire!"

"He has indeed," chuckled the voice of Charles Fox as he stepped up beside his assistant. "Claire Redfield is completely at his mercy, and all I need to do is give him the command to kill her. He won't hesitate; I've made sure of that."

"You let her go!" Rebecca yelled up at him. "What did Claire ever do to you?!" Rebecca's words prompted Charles to laugh loudly, and in response Chris drew out his handgun and aimed up at him.

"Let her go," he demanded calmly, though his expression suggested that anger was his primary emotion. "I won't hesitate to shoot you."

"My my, aren't you so feisty?" Charles chuckled. "If you shoot me then the Lamb will shoot Claire through the head. I'd rather not see her die so quickly, though; she deserves to suffer, and you'll be next, Chris Redfield!"

"I already know why you want to kill me," Chris growled. "I know you're working with Wesker - he hated me long before I even hated him." The man narrowed his eyes as he said those words, remembering the day Wesker betrayed his team all the way back in the Spencer Mansion. He still couldn't understand how that man was still alive.

"Oh, well, I suppose I should tell you two American brats who I am before you die," Charles decided with a smug little smirk, his blue eyes glancing in Claire's direction for a moment. "I want you both to die knowing which family you messed with."

Charles stepped forward, staring down at Rebecca, Billy and Chris. Each one of them stared back up at him with a look of anger and caution - it made him feel so powerful. The man couldn't help but grin widely with large eyes as he let out yet another ominous chuckle, his head cocking to the side as he then eyed Claire thoughtfully, watching as she trembled from both the cold air and from her own fear. He pointed his pale and bony finger at her as he grin slowly transformed into a scowl. "She ruined this island," he snarled at her. "She and her brother, Chris Redfield, worked together to destroy Alexia Ashford and her world-changing research."

"Alexia?!" Claire responded, her eyes widening with horror. Remembering Alexia brought back other horrific memories for her. Already her heart was beginning to race.

"Claire did nothing to this island!" Chris shouted up at Charles. "It was Wesker - the man you're working for!"

"I can assure you that Wesker played no part in what happened here," Charles growled. "What I do know is that you Redfields murdered Alexia Ashford!" Charles eyed Claire once again, a smirk curving from the corner of his lips. "I'm also aware that Alfred Ashford also died because of you, but I know who really killed him. He's dead now, isn't he, Claire? Your friend?"

Claire knew exactly who Charles was talking about her, and something almost snapped inside her. Her blue eyes narrowed and she grit her teeth together, almost launching herself at Charles if it weren't for the Lamb suddenly restraining her once again. His reflexes were unnaturally quick.

Charles could only laugh at Claire's reaction. "Did I strike a nerve, Claire?" he asked her in a taunting tone. "It's been well over a decade now. Do you still miss him?"

"You have no right to talk about him," Claire spat fiercely.

"Do I not?" Charles queried, tilting his head as he paced towards Claire as the Lamb held her by the arms. He glared at her with venom. "Do I not have a right to speak of the man who killed my father?"

Claire's eyes went uncomfortably wide. "Your father...?" she repeated, loud enough for the three down below to hear her.

"What?" Chris murmured to himself, not understanding what was being hinted at. Charles simply cackled in a twisted manner.

"Yes, Claire!" he roared with insanity. "Alfred Ashford was my father!"

Charles spoke loud and clear, and everyone heard him. Rebecca and Billy didn't have any experience with the Ashfords, so they didn't really understand the significance of what Charles had just said, but Claire and Chris were speechless. After all this time, when the Ashfords were supposed to be dead and gone, there was still another one left who desired to carry on the Ashford legacy.

"I-I don't understand..." Claire murmured, unsure of what she was actually saying. "Alfred had a child...?" In a way, she didn't want to believe that Charles was speaking the truth. She didn't understand how Alfred had a child when he was such an immature and unstable man living in isolation, but she could not deny the fact that Charles really did resemble him - he dressed smart, combed his light blond hair neatly over to the side and he had deep blue eyes and pale skin, plus he had that British accent.

"An accident," Charles explained simply to Claire. "You of all people must have learned how loyal my father was to my aunt, Claire. He waited patiently for her return and did not want to disappoint her in any way. Well, a good few years before you and your friend were imprisoned on the island, my father met my mother - a woman who worked for him as a mere servant. When she had me, he realised that I was proof of his betrayal to my aunt. He sent me and my mother away from the island so that we never got in the way of him and Alexia, but one day I wanted to return to him in my adulthood. You took that away from me, Claire. Well, I suppose your little friend was the real one to do it, but he's long gone now - isn't he, my little Lamb?" The Lamb nodded in response to Charles' question.

"He's gone," he confirmed.

Charles looked at the Lamb in a way which resembled a mentor approving of a student reflecting on what they have been taught to do, then turning to gaze down at the other three with a grin. "Wesker will be here soon," he announced. "When he comes here, the show will finally begin. Claire will die at the hands of my executioner, and you, Chris Redfield, will die at the hands of your old nemesis."

"No," Billy spoke up, stepping forward. "Nobody is dying here tonight."

"Don't act like such a saint, Josh," Charles retorted before smirking. "Or should I say... Billy Coen?"

Chris stared at Billy with wide eyes, and Rebecca immediately became defensive. "Billy Coen?" the man repeated with shock. "The criminal?"

"Chris, this isn't the place..." Rebecca told him quietly. Chris stared at her, almost feeling a knife going into his back. But Rebecca was right; there were other problems to be focusing on right now, but Billy's situation definitely was going to be addressed.

"You're right, Rebecca," Chris nodded in agreement, glaring back up at Charles and aiming his gun steadily. "Let's deal with this guy first."

"Are you sure that's a wise idea, Chris?" Charles grinned, glancing over in the Lamb's direction. He stood ready to shoot Claire if Chris tried anything.

"You really shouldn't underestimate me," Chris said before suddenly pointing his handgun up at the Lamb, pulling the trigger a number of times. The Lamb was completely unprepared for this and fell backwards, wounded, giving Claire enough time to run and immediately tackle Charles. The pair rolled down the roof of the building they had been standing on, falling down to the ground and landing hard. Chris helped to pull Claire away from the blond man while Billy was able to easily pin him against the floor, holding his arms firmly behind his back.

Rebecca stared up at the Lamb, who was now getting back up onto his feet. "We have your boss!" she yelled up to him. "We'll kill him if you don't come down here and surrender yourself!"

For a moment the Lamb stared down at Charles, but he knew he was outnumbered. He couldn't fend off four people while trying to protect Charles' life. The man's icy blue eyes narrowed - he was certain that they were bluffing, so fleeing the scene should bring him no guilt. However, if they did indeed kill Charles, then he would work with Wesker to bring them all down for good. So, concluding his thoughts, the Lamb jumped down the other side of the building and fled the scene.

"Damn it!" Chris cursed. "He's getting away!"

"I've trained him to think with logic, not emotion," Charles smirked. "He isn't done with you four yet; the Lamb never rests."

"He might be going to find Wesker," Rebecca theorized, looking at Chris. "We should do something, right?" Chris nodded his head.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Claire and I will go after him. You two should make sure this guy causes no more trouble." Chris then frowned as he looked at Billy. "I'll be sure to talk to you when this is all over, and you'd better not have any thoughts about hurting Rebecca."

"Relax, Chris," Rebecca assured as she hoisted Charles up to his feet with Billy's help. "Billy and I go way back. We'll... explain it all later."

"Hmph," Chris responded. "Be careful. And with that said, him and Claire sprinted together to go after the Lamb, hopefully before he could reach Wesker.

Billy then looked at Rebecca with a very small yet cocky smile. "We go way back, huh?" he repeated to her. Rebecca sighed and rolled her eyes, though she couldn't prevent herself from smiling.

"Not now, Billy," she said to him. The pair began walking together so that they could appropriately and safely deal with Charles Fox - or, as he should be called, Charles Ashford.

 **~End of Book VI~**


	8. Book VII

**~Book VII~**

"Which way did he go?" asked Chris as he and Claire ran in search of the Lamb.

"I'm not sure," Claire admitted while running, sounding strangely quiet and calm for someone who had just been held hostage - that may have been because she had been captured before, or perhaps she was just in shock. Too many memories were coming back to her.

"We can't let him get to Wesker," Chris stated. "I don't think we'll be able to take them both on."

"Not without some weapons, at least," Claire added. "I brought some with me in my plane, but I don't think we have enough time to go back for them now."

Chris gave Claire an odd look for a moment, maintaining his running speed. "You brought weapons?" he asked for clarification.

"Yeah," Claire confirmed. "But what's the use in turning back for them now? We'd never be able to catch up to the Lamb in time."

For a moment there was a pause before Chris gave his answer. "That's a risk I'm willing to take," he announced. "We can't take on the Lamb without a good supply of weapons, and if he does manage to find Wesker, we'd stand no chance."

He hated admitting it but it was true. Without weapons, the pair may as well be dead already. The Lamb was strong, but Wesker was stronger, and together they would be an immortal team.

"...Then should we go back?" Claire asked after a pause. Chris, almost shamefully, nodded his head.

"We need an advantage if we wanna defeat Wesker and that Lamb. Hopefully we'll find them individually rather than together."

"I hope for that, too," Claire agreed. "Come on; I'll show you where I left my plane." Claire broke into a sprint again, this time heading in a different direction as her brother followed her.

 _..._

Billy and Rebecca both dragged Charles to the first ruined building they could find, which looked like some kind of small brick shed. They dropped him to the floor, but Billy looked lost in thought - something Rebecca noticed.

"You okay?" she asked him. Billy just nodded his head, keeping his eyes locked onto Charles while maintaining his tough expression.

"I'm fine," he insisted. Rebecca knew that something was bothering him, and she was able to guess what it was.

"You're worried about what Chris said, aren't you?" she questioned softly. Billy almost flinched but instead hardened his frown, folding his arms.

"I'm supposed to be dead," the man reminded his companion. "Death was my sentence and you were the one who was supposed to have carried it out. If my name gets out there again, I doubt I'll be spared from my original sentence."

"Don't say that," Rebecca said in response to calm him, walking closer and putting her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure Chris will understand." Billy could only huff quietly under his breath.

"He seems like the kinda guy to follow the rules," he murmured.

"He believes in justice," Rebecca corrected. "He understands that there are mistakes like these in law, and he's seen enough corruption to believe your story."

"Hmph," was all Billy could reply with. "Let's just deal with this guy." Rebecca nodded her head in agreement, looking down at the frowning Charles. She crouched down so that she was level with him.

"Alright," she began, "I want you to tell me everything, Charles. What's really going on here?"

"I have no reason to respond to your demands," the blond man growled. "Your lives are inferior to mine."

"Answer her question," Billy added, stepping closer and looming over the younger male. His expression was enough to convince Charles to start speaking, but only after the son of Alfred Ashford grinned and chuckled to himself.

"Very well," he murmured darkly, still maintaining his grin. "What would you like to know?"

"First off, I want you to tell me why you keep quoting the Book of Revelations," Rebecca stated. "Everything you do refers to it. Why?"

"Simple," Charles shrugged. "This island will be used to begin the judgement of the planet - a testing ground, if you will."

"For what?" Rebecca pressed.

"Wesker's new virus," Charles smirked. "It's what he has infected himself with. He, along with myself and the Lamb and perhaps a few select others who are superior beings, will re-shape this world with that virus, and lesser beings will merely be exposed to the t-Veronica virus." Charles leaned closer to Rebecca, watching her closely as she tensed up. "I wouldn't worry too much about that if I were you, however, because you won't be around to see the new world; the Lamb will kill you all one by one."

"The Lamb..." Rebecca muttered, narrowing her light blue eyes. "Who is he?" Her question caused Charles to laugh.

"He was once a man a long time ago," he described. "He was one of Wesker's many test subjects, but he was... different. He proved himself to be of superior DNA."

"How so?" Rebecca interrogated.

"He returned from the dead," Charles revealed. "He was killed, but the t-Veronica virus was able to restart all of his internal systems within his body. Wesker did some more work with him before having him frozen for fifteen years so that he could adapt to the rapidly-changing virus. I heard of this little project and approached Wesker, and from there we became a team."

"There's always a catch when Wesker is involved with anything," Rebecca growled. "He's using you."

"You have so much to learn," Charles giggled almost creepily. Rebecca shook her head, clearly frustrated.

"Why would you be so interested in such a project?" she pushed. "I would've thought Wesker had approached you for something..."

"Because I wanted to use that boy," Charles confessed. "He was frozen, and I knew everything about him. I knew he would be perfect to use against my targets, Claire and Chris, so with Wesker's help, we broke his will." Rebecca's eyes went wide and, surprisingly, so did Billy's.

"What did you do to him?" asked Billy quietly, almost unaware that he had asked the question.

"Who is he?!" Rebecca snapped, grabbing Charles by his shoulders. "Claire never had any enemies! Who are you using against her?!"

"I don't think the Lamb was ever her enemy," Billy guessed, which caused Rebecca to fall silent and drop her jaw in shock. She slowly turned her head to look back at Billy; Billy didn't know as much as Rebecca did, but both of them knew enough. The small woman then turned back to the smirking Charles, her eyes still wide and her mouth still hanging open.

"No..." she whispered to herself.

 _..._

Chris and Claire had managed to retrieve enough weapons from the plane, running together to search once again for the Lamb.

"Keep an eye out for Wesker," Chris warned. "And... I probably should have mentioned this earlier, but keep an eye out for a woman."

"What?" Claire reacted, sounding confused.

"I've been finding different documents relating to a woman I've never heard of," Chris revealed. "Her name is Elizabeth Bryant."

"I can't say I know her name..." Claire mumbled.

"I think she's working with Wesker," Chris stated. "She has been working with him for years, longer than any of the lackeys he has betrayed, and I'm pretty sure she worked on the Lamb. Well, she worked on someone, and I'm certain that person became the Lamb."

"I haven't seen a woman at all," Claire reported.

"Neither have I," Chris added, "but I'm pretty sure she's somewhere here - like the fourth muskateer."

"Yeah," Claire chuckled lightly. That's when they heard a gunshot, making them both dive to the ground instinctively. The Lamb had emerged from behind a rock, standing to the rear of the pair, and one of his dual pistols was smoking.

"There he is!" Claire called, pushing herself back up to her feet. The hooded figure was wearing another weapon upon his back: a double-headed battle axe. It was one fit for an executioner, but it also vaguely resembled an axe Claire had seen before...

Chris growled and drew out his own hand gun, firing at the other male. The Lamb simply ran, almost in an attempt to flee. "After him!" Chris commanded, breaking into a sprint. Claire joined him, and together they unknowingly began heading towards a trap.

The Lamb ruined down the steps of a building neither Chris or Claire was familiar with - it stood far away from the other complexes on the island and had nothing on the surface besides the stairs which would lead people further down into the earth. Whatever this building was, it was safe to say that it was an underground-only complex - and it was much larger than Chris and Claire expected it to be.

As the two stepped further down the staircase, they could see the environment becoming darker. "Be careful," Chris whispered to Claire, his gun ready for use. Claire simply nodded her head as her feet reached flat ground, and that's when the pair confirmed that they were finally inside the structure. Chris turned his head and nodded to Claire. "Let's go," he said quietly, jogging with light steps as his sister followed him.

The air was silent. Lights barely filled these dark metallic corridors at all. Chris and Claire did not dare to speak, for they had to keep their ears out for the Lamb. They both knew what that man was capable of.

A flicker of light behind a window caught Claire's attention. It looked like a monitoring room of some sort, but only one screen was one. The black and white footage looked relatively new, even having sound playing along with it, but despite being recent footage it was still unclear. Overwhelmed by the feeling of curiosity, Claire pushed open the door cautiously and entered the small, dark room.

"Claire," Chris hissed. "Be careful!"

Claire had listened to his words, but she didn't respond. She could see Wesker standing by a secure chamber of some sort, and with him was Charles. It seemed as if Wesker had just finished speaking as Claire entered the room, and Charles was now replying to him.

 _"I think he'll be very useful,"_ Charles decided. _"You want to kill Chris Redfield for what he's done to you, and I want to kill Claire Redfield for what she has done to me. We can turn this research project of yours into a weapon - I believe you have the technology to do so."_

Claire narrowed her eyes, stepping closer to the screen in an attempt to see better. What was going on? This must have been footage relating to the Lamb's origins.

In the video, Charles nodded his head to Wesker and took a step back, eyeing the chamber. _"You know the codes to unlock it,"_ he thought out loud, reminding Wesker that only he knew how to open up the machine. Wesker did indeed step forward, pressing some buttons on a control panel before standing at a safe distance.

Slowly the machine began to open up, and while Claire was watching the video she couldn't help but widen her eyes. Even Chris looked intrigued, despite being mildly cautious of what may happen around them.

It felt like minutes had passed before the chamber opened, revealing the bare humanoid form of a young man attached to various wires. Cold mist leaked from the pod as the man suddenly seemed to awaken, falling out onto the floor. He coughed and spluttered, gasping desperately for air, lifting his head as he breathed heavily to catch his breath. With his head now lifted, clear to Claire's view, the woman almost felt her heart stop.

Claire could see that the man did not have incredibly dark or incredibly light hair. His face looked full of youth, yet at the same time he looked weary. No doubt being in that chamber kept his skin fresh. The man even seemed to turn his head as he weakly panted for air, and his eyes locked with the camera - Claire felt as if he were staring right at her.

One thing Claire noticed was a huge scar all the way around his lower body, close to his abdomen. It looked like once it was a great wound - nobody could survive something of that size.

Tears began to drip down Claire's cheeks. Before she could even realise it, her mind had recognised the man. How could she forget that face? He may have looked a little older now, but he had barely changed.

Claire reached her hand out and touched the screen, with her eyes still leaking. Chris now wore a face of concern, stepping closer to Claire and looking at her entranced visage.

"Claire," he muttered quietly. "We need to find the Lamb."

Claire was barely listening. Her hand shook. All she could do was stare at this video. How was this possible?

The one thing that broke her trance was what happened next in the footage. Wesker grabbed the man by his hair and hoisted him roughly to his feet, making the younger male grunt in pain.

 _"Let go!"_ the man yelled, his voice barely there. He tried to thrash and wriggle, but Wesker held him firmly now with both arms.

 _"He has fighting spirit,"_ Charles smirked as he examined the scarred man. _"That's perfet. He'll kill Claire and Chris for us once we... prepare him."_

 _"Claire?!"_ the man gasped. _"Never...!"_

He knew who she was. He still knew her name.

 _"You will,"_ Charles assured.

The footage began to distort as the restrained man screamed in distress - a sound which brought various memories back for Claire. That pained and distorted cry as he was forced to succumb to his fate, only back then his fate was to turn into a grotesque monster. His weak croak of confession as he succumbed to the wound to his abdomen. His cold hand on her cheek.

"Claire!" Chris suddenly shouted, firing from his gun. Claire turned around, only to find herself pinned to the floor. On top of her was the Lamb.

She couldn't react to him. All she could do was stare into those cold blue eyes. Did they really feel familiar because he was the same man she lost all those years ago? Why? Why would he be doing this to her?

Chris grabbed the Lamb and wrestled him back, but was unable to stop him from throwing down his axe. The head of the axe cut into the back of Claire's leg, causing the woman to wail in pain.

"Claire!" Chris hollered in horror as the Lamb pushed him back with his elbow. He let out a cold laughter before running out of the room.

Chris knelt beside Claire and immediatebly began tending to her wound. "Damn it..." he cursed. "He could've hacked your leg clean off..."

"Chris..." Claire gasped as she grabbed onto the fabric of his clothing, her eyes still drowning in tears. "It's him..." Chris shook his head.

"We have to stop him," he stated, not really understanding what Claire was trying to say. "Come on." The brown-haired man lifted her up, letting her support her weight against him as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. Chris helped her limp out of the room, and together they ambled down the dark corridor. Chris could see an open door which led into a large, dark room - and in that room stood the Lamb.

Chris knew exactly what the Lamb was doing, so he placed Claire down by the wall. "Stay here," he instructed softly. "I'm going to finish this." He then stood and sprinted into the large room, drawing out his gun and aiming at the Lamb. "This ends here!" he declared angrily. "You've caused enough trouble!"

Once again, the Lamb chuckled coldly. "Yes, this does end here," he agreed. He suddenly drew out one of his pistols and fired to the side, with the bullet hitting a switch of some sort. The heavy metallic floor slowly began to open, but not entirely; the Lamb and Chris were both standing on a narrow platform within this large circle, almost as if they were standing on a dangerous bridge. Chris stared with wide eyes as he realised that below the pair was a pit of glowing molten metal.

"Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire," the Lamb spoke, stepping towards Chris. Once again he had pulled a quote from the book of Revelations. Chris grit his teeth and kept his own gun aimed.

"Second death..." the older man snarled. "It will be you who is thrown into the lake of fire, and I'll make sure you'll never return." Chris wasn't exactly sure of how he would maintain such a promise - after all, Wesker seemed to return somehow despite exploding while in an active volcano.

The Lamb removed the bandana which covered the lower half of his face, revealing his full image. "I don't think you want to do that," he corrected, then lowering his hood. He had revealed himself to be the same man as the one in the video Claire was watching. The video which brought tears to her eyes. The video where the same man was pleading not to kill Claire.

Chris didn't want to believe it. How was this man still alive? He did not know him well, but he knew what happened to him. The death of this same person affected Claire greatly and still haunted her to this day.

Claire had managed to move herself so that she could see into the room through the open door. Her heart sank painfully as she stared at the two men preparing to battle. The man in that video, the man she knew long ago, had successfully been turned into the Lamb - the assassin trained to kill her and her brother.

"Well, Chris, make your move," Steve Burnside taunted as he opened his arms to welcome the upcoming violence.

 **~End of Book VII~**


	9. Book VIII

**~Book VIII~**

Chris didn't know Steve well back when Claire knew him and wasn't at all familiar with his face, but having watched that security footage which Claire reacted to, the man had an idea of who this guy was. He quickly turned his head to look behind him, his eyes widening with worry when he saw Claire, still on the floor, reaching her hand out towards both himself and the other younger man.

"S... Steve...!" she cried out, still weak from her wound. Tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving a damp trail similar to a snail's. Now Chris really could confirm that this redheaded man before him was indeed Steve Burnside, the boy taken by Wesker all that time ago after his tragic death.

"How is this possible...?" Chris murmured, now staring over at Steve, who took a few daring steps closer to the Redfield male. "How are you alive, Steve?! What the hell did Wesker do to you?!" Not once did Chris lower his gun; he was far too cautious to do such a thing, especially in this environment. Steve merely smirked and chuckled lowly, drawing out his two pistols and twirling them around his fingers.

"Are you gonna try talking me out of what I'm doing, Chris?" he pushed, spinning his guns to then aim in Chris' direction. "Good luck with that; I haven't hesitated to hurt you and Claire so far, so why would things change now? If anything, it is you who is now hesitating to hurt me."

"That's why Charles thought you were perfect to kill Claire," Chris spat. "You're not Steve at all, are you?! You're just his body... Charles and Wesker are using Steve's face to make Claire and I hesitate to kill you!" Chris narrowed his eyes, preparing to pull the trigger. "Well, I won't let that trick work on me - and I won't let you damage Claire like this!" Even if Claire was going to protest for Chris to spare Steve's life, the Redfield brother knew that he had to do what was best for everyone. He had to kill Steve - or what was left of him, anyway.

"I wasn't trained to make you hesitate," Steve reminded. "I was trained to kill you both!" With no further warning, Steve opened fired with both of his guns. His first bullet hit Chris directly in the shoulder, causing Chris' return fire to be inaccurate as the man grimaced and growled, almost falling to his knees as he clasped his wound. Steve grinned as he stepped closer to the older male, watching as he responded to the pain. Chris lifted his head and made an attempt to lift his arm to shoot at Steve, but his movement was too slow. Steve shot the gun from his hand, causing it to bounce off the ground a few times before sliding into the molten metal below. Chris could only watch this happen helplessly until he felt Steve kick him hard in the chest, knocking him down onto his back. Steve then placed his foot hard onto Chris' abdomen, leaning down to meet his foe eye-to-eye.

"Stop it!" Claire wailed through her own weakness, but Steve didn't listen to her. He was now completely focused on Chris.

"Does it hurt?" he mocked with a smirk. "You're still so human, Chris Redfield; people like you are easy to hurt."

Chris clenched his teeth together, grabbing onto Steve's wrists. He pulled the younger male down and began violently wrestling with him, attempting to roll over in order to gain the upper hand, yet at the same time he was making sure not to roll over into the "lake of fire" below the narrow platform. However, Steve had strength almost unnatural for a man of his build, and the redhead was able to keep Chris down.

"Don't bother," he snickered. "You've lost already, Chris." Chris frowned hatefully up into Steve's blue eyes, but his attention was quickly drawn to his dual pistols. Those guns gave Steve an advantage in this battle, so it would be best to take them away. That's exactly what Chris did swiftly; he grabbed the barrel of one pistol while gripping Steve's other wrist, making it difficult for the assassin to aim down at him. The brown-haired male was able to pull the gun suddenly from Steve's firm grasp, choosing to throw it down into the glowing doom below, and after that he managed to use both hands to claim Steve's other gun, whacking the younger man across the face with it before kicking him back. Now Chris jumped back onto his feet, aiming at the unarmed Steve.

"Don't make me do this, Steve," Chris gave as a final warning. Steve scowled before letting out an enraged roar, removing his battle axe from his back - a weapon Chris had completely forgotten about due to being so focused on his guns.

Steve lunged at Chris, swinging his axe downwards, but luckily Chris rolled out of the way, getting behind the Lamb. The older male was about to kick Steve in the back, but Steve predicted the move, jumping forwards to avoid the kick before swinging his axe around. Chris bent backwards slightly, narrowly avoiding the axe head, and he even managed to use one hand to grab onto the handle, briefly bringing the weapon to a halt. Steve's strength was still unbelievable, so Chris could not hold him for long, but he did manage to shoot Steve in the abdomen. Steve let out a howl of agony and stumbled backwards, almost dropping his axe, giving Chris the chance to shoot him again, this time in the shoulder. Steve barely reacted to that wound, giving Chris the indication that he had a weakness in his abdomen.

That's when Chris remembered the video footage from before. Steve had a huge scare which hugged his abdomen and even went around to his back.

His death wound.

Steve had been impaled. That's what Claire told him after they returned together from Antarctica. Alexia had used one of her appendages to pierce the boy through his abdomen, and that attack is what killed him.

Chris had been so focused on his thoughts that he barely had time to react to Steve lunging towards him with his axe, knocking him down towards the side. Chris came very close to falling over the edge, with Steve now standing tall above him.

"It's over, Chris!" the redhead yelled, kicking the gun out of Chris' hand, thus destroying the final firearm in this battle. "This is where you finally die!"

Chris' eyes immediately went back to Claire, who was still watching in horror. If he died now, then Steve would kill her. He had to end this. Steve had to be stopped.

"It's over," Chris agreed quietly, then glowering up savagely at Steve. "For YOU!" He kicked Steve's leg hard, causing him to lose his balance for a very short amount of time, giving Chris the chance to get up and reach for Steve's shoulders. Steve stopped the grab with his axe, which Chris held with both hands. Both men pushed towards each other, trying to push the other off the edge behind them, with Steve losing the wrestle due to his injured abdomen.

A burst of rage seemed to consume Steve all of a sudden as he began pushing much harder, now getting Chris closer to the edge. Chris fought back with all of his might, even wriggling the axe a little until he was trying to not only push Steve, but also turn his axe against him. He managed to tear at Steve's black hoodie with the axe head, and his eyes widened at something he suddenly saw.

On Steve's chest was a glowing red object.

The P30 device.

Chris knew what this was. This had been used to control Jill when Wesker had kidnapped her. This is what Wesker and Charles were using to keep Steve under control while also giving him an insane level of strength.

Still, Chris was losing this battle, and there was only one thing he could do to avoid being pushed down into the molten metal. He swiftly moved to the side as Steve gave a final push, causing the redhead to tumble and fall over the edge.

His axe dropped into the molten metal...

But he didn't fall in.

Chris had grabbed onto his wrist the moment he lost his balance, almost finding himself being dragged down, as well. He was well prepared for Steve to make such a move now, but Steve had stopped fighting. This wasn't because he was suddenly thankful; this was because he knew that his survival depended on Chris, and the fight would continue if Chris chose to pull him up.

"Chris!" Claire called out, grabbing the older brother's attention. He stared at her horrified face and knew what she was silently pleading for. She wanted him to save Steve. Thankfully Chris already intended to do that, now that he knew the real reason Steve was acting as the enemy.

Chris used both of his hands to hoist Steve up, quickly pinning him onto his back and straddling his lap. He held the younger male's arms down, but was struggling to maintain his hold.

"Claire!" he shouted. "Get over here! Now!" Despite her wound, Claire could not disobey her brother. She staggered over to the pair, falling to Steve's side, almost feeling her heart break when he gave her such a fierce and hateful stare.

"Don't be fooled by his actions," Chris continued. "He's being controlled! I need you to remove that device on his chest! Now!"

Claire stared down at Steve as he tried to shove Chris away, yelling like a primitive beast in pain. The screams brought Claire back to that moment all those years ago. She could hear him crying out, see him struggling, see him in pain as he tried to fight what brought harm to him. She watched as he lost that fight. She watched him become that tyrant, watching as his bones grew and snapped and his skinn shrivelled into a rotten green coat, with fangs protruding from his mouth while his eyes filled with red - blood.

The woman put both hands on the device and pulled, but it was tightly knit into his skin and other internal parts of his body. It didn't feel like it would come out without doing serious damage - she even feared that she would rip out a chunk of his flesh.

"Pull harder!" she heard her brother yell. She could only stare down at Steve as she tried to use more of her current strength, but it only made Steve scream more. Even worse: Steve started to flex his legs and wrists, clawing his hands into weird shapes as he arched his back. His face began to reveal bulging green veins which also went down his neck, and his eyes began to go red with thick, bloodshot veins.

"What's happening to him?!" Claire cried in fear. Blood seeped from his wound which Claire had opened beneath the P30 device, and that blood was not afraid to ignite. In fact, Claire was almost mildly burned by it.

"He's trying to transform like Alexia did all those years ago!" Chris noticed, remembering how Alexia transformed using the same virus Steve now had full control over. "Get that device off him now before it's too late!"

She had to. She had to take it off him. If she didn't rip that damn thing out of his chest now, then he'd be gone again, this time forever. Claire let out a scream herself as she really strained her level of strength, digging her nails beneath the device before finally tearing it out of Steve's skin. Steve's screaming came to an abrupt end as he flopped limply beneath Chris, his eyes close. He breathed short breaths and gasped desperately for air, coughing every so often.

Chris, seeing Steve's sudden lack of resistance and strength, decided that it was safe to move off him. He was also panting for air due to the heat of the room, but also due to how much energy he had wasted keeping that young man down.

Claire was still staring down at Steve, watching as he lay there in a state of weak relief. He was free. He looked tired, but he was free. He knew full well that he was free.

The young woman wanted to put her hand on his to feel it once again. She wanted to brush his messy hair out of his face to remind herself that this was the same man she lost years ago, alive and well. She wanted to lay her head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat to confirm that he was alive.

Chris spotted Claire's temptation, putting a hand on her shoulder to catch her attention. The brown-haired male shook his head. "That blood of his is infected with the t-Veronica virus," he reminded her. "You don't wanna come into contact with it." The Redfield brother stood himself up, looking towards the exit of the room.

"Chris," Claire spoke up, still kneeling by Steve's side. "We... We can't leave him."

"We're not gonna," Chris assured her. Let's get you two outta this room - the heat will drive you unconscious and it won't be good for that virus." He managed to lift Steve up, finding him surprisingly light, and carried him back to where Claire was laid before. Claire limped after her brother before sitting down beside Steve once Chris used some cloth to cover his bleeding injury. He then looked down at his sister. "Stay here with him," he commanded. "I'm gonna find Rebecca and... and Billy. They need to know that the Lamb has been dealt with. Now Wesker is our only target, then we can get the hell off this island."

"What about Steve?" Claire asked, her tone soft and frightened as she cradled Steve close to her. She couldn't lose him again.

"Don't worry," Chris told her, "we'll bring him back with us." The younger Redfield felt her lips curve up into a smile, and Chris could only smile back at such a sight. He nodded his head to his sister proudly. "I'll come back when I find Rebecca and Billy; until then, you should be safe resting here."

"Thank you, Chris..." Claire mumbled under her breath. "...Be careful out there."

"I'll be fine and you know it," Chris chuckled. "I've been through this shit too many times." With that, Chris turned on his heel and sprinted out of sight, with Claire listening to his echoing footsteps before they could no longer be heard. Her blue eyes were then on Steve, who still lay unconscious. For a moment she tensed up, since the way he looked reminded her of how he looked the day Alexia put an end to his life, but then she saw him twitch and stir, shuffling closer to Claire while still asleep. Claire couldn't help but let out a sight of relief when seeing such a movement; it reminded her that Steve was very much alive.

 **~End of Book VIII~**


	10. Book IX

**~Book IX~**

Chris sprinted along the rocky landscape of Rockfort Island, panting as he pushed himself beyond his limit. He had to find Rebecca and Billy. Now.

They were only dealing with the defeated Charles Fox, so they would most definitely be in once place. Now the group really did have the upper hand - Charles had been apprehended and the Lamb had been defeated, so now there was only Wesker to worry about.

Well, there was also Elizabeth Bryant. Somewhere. She had to be around; why else would there be footage and reports written by her, unless Wesker was using them for something else? It did make sense for Wesker to be using her reports due to the Lamb, which she had worked on during his time as a t-Veronica experiment, but Chris could never be too sure. He had to keep his guard up.

Luckily for him, he was able to find Rebecca and Billy without much struggle. The pair almost looked shocked to see him enter their small hiding area, with Charles wearing a face of fury.

"Chris!" Rebecca reacted, jumping up to her feet. "Where's Claire?! Is something wrong?!"

"Everything's fine," Chris assured. "We defeated the Lamb."

Rebecca almost looked horrified. "You didn't... kill him, did you?" she asked slowly, worried that Chris may have unknowingly killed Claire's former ally. She was relieved to see that Chris shook his head.

"He was being controlled," the man revealed. "Wesker must've had a spare P30 device somewhere, or he at least created another one like the one he used on Jill."

"So, who was it?" Billy decided to ask, his voice earning an immediate scowl from Chris. "She had a friend who she met on this island years ago. Was it him?"

"Yeah," Chris nodded. "But he does still have the t-Veronica virus inside him. That virus is still contagious - Steve was the one who infected your pilot, Duke."

"There's a cure, right?" Rebecca asked, almost hopeful. Chris, this time, looked uncertain.

"I don't know," he admitted. "The only other t-Veronica subject I know of is Manuela Hidalgo, and... she's been quarantined for years."

"So, there's no cure...?" Rebecca asked slowly. Chris could only shrug his shoulders and shake his head.

"Claire knows more than I do about virus antidotes," he reminded his old friend. "She's with Steve right now, waiting for us to meet up with her. Then we'll all go after Wesker and put an end to this madness."

 _..._

Claire had let her mind wander while she was left in silence, though her eyes were almost always drawn to Steve even when she tried to look elsewhere. He was leaning against her, still with his eyes closed, but after what felt like forever he finally started to stir again. His face scrunched up a little for a moment, until finally his cold blue eyes started to open. They opened slowly and were glazed over, and for a moment the redheaded man didn't even react to the woman before him. He didn't react to anything, but his irises then filled with emotion as his eyes went wide, yet he did not have the strength to move much.

The TerraSave employee moved slightly to sit herself further upright, staring back at Steve with wide eyes. "Steve...?" she murmured, putting one hand on his shoulder in a swift but uncertain motion. "Steve, are you okay...?"

"Claire..." Steve replied in a croak, holding her hand against his shoulder. Both of them looked at each other as if they hadn't seen each other in years, but at the same time they were looking each other in the eye with a hint of tension. Claire couldn't help but associate his eyes with the eyes of the man who tried to kill her and her brother, while Steve could only stare back at her knowing the pain he had caused.

After what seemed like an infinite awkward silence, Claire finally decided to pull Steve closer to her, no longer able to contain her tears. "Steve..." she almost wept. "Steve, I had no idea..." Somewhat surprised by this response, Steve was taken aback. Still, his expression softened as he weakly placed his hand on her back.

"I never wanted to hurt you," he murmured. "I… I couldn't control myself…"

"You're alive," Claire said quietly, the tears in her eyes now begging to come out. "You've… grown up…"

Claire's response made Steve go quiet. He had grown up, but arguably he didn't live a full life up to this point. Not once had he been allowed to feel joy in his few moments of consciousness, but what he had just been reminded of was the fact that Claire believed he was dead up until seeing his face again. Claire had mourned for him and then moved on with her life. She was the one who had truly lived and grown up. Their adventure together was so fresh in his mind, but to her it was history.

"Right…" the redhead muttered, looking away from the female. "You… didn't know I was alive, did you…?"

Suddenly Claire had her arms fully around him, pulling him close as she buried her face in his shoulder. Steve immediately tensed up and almost shoved her away. He didn't want to risk infecting her, but it had been so long since he had been embraced like this. So long since he had been treated like a human being.

"I had no idea," Claire repeated, her words muffled as she shook her head. "I would've come straight for you if I had known you were still alive. I should've known Wesker was planning for something like this – when he said he was going to bring you back, I thought he was just trying to toy with me…"

"Wesker…" Steve mumbled thoughtfully, his eyes then widening. "Crap…"

"We're not gonna let him hurt you again," Claire assured, her hold on Steve tightening. "He won't hurt anybody once we're done with him. Chris, Rebecca, Billy… they're all here to help take him down once and for all."

"No…" Steve muttered, pushing Claire back slightly as he wearily stared into her eyes. "Claire… listen to me…"

Before Steve could say what he needed to, Chris, Rebecca and Billy all ran down to meet with the pair.

"Claire!" Chris called. "You alright?"

"Huh?" Claire reacted, looking up at the trio. "I'm fine, Chris… Nothing's happened here."

Chris noticed that Steve was awake, and the two men stared at each other almost awkwardly before Chris nodded his head. "You okay there, Steve?" he decided to ask.

"Um…" Steve reacted. "…Yeah. …Sorry for capturing you and trying to kill you."

"It's… fine," Chris replied. Steve then looked towards Billy and Rebecca.

"Sorry to you guys, too," he apologized. "I… really had no control of myself."

"It happens," Billy told him, folding his arms. He still looked a little confused at how quickly the Lamb had switched from being a cold-blooded assassin to being some weak little man.

"It happens more than you'd think," Rebecca extended.

"Wesker will pay for everything he's done," Chris decided to say. "Not just what he's put everyone through recently, but everything in the past."

"He's not gonna survive this time, either," Rebecca chose to add. "He's been messing with us for too long."

Chris stared down at his sister and Steve. "Will you two be able to fight?" he asked them.

"I'm not sure…" Claire responded, looking at her leg.

"I'll fight until I'm dead," Steve answered, trying his best to stand. "I'll teach them that I'm not some toy. I'll kill them for what they did to me."

"Steve!" Claire spoke up with worry as she managed to finally stand up, though she could barely put pressure on her wounded leg. "Please… Don't do anything stupid… I don't want to lose you when you've only just come back…"

Steve stared at her with a soft gaze, but his softness faded away into emptiness. "I wish I could stay safe for you," he said to her, "but they've hurt me too much. My revenge… is more important."

Those words struck Claire hard, but immediately her mind put up a defensive wall. Maybe she would lose him again, after all this time.

"Nobody here is going to die tonight," Chris announced. "Together, we'll put an end to Wesker."

"Then let's go find the bastard," Billy finalized, marching towards the exit. Everyone looked at each other, but decided that following Billy was the best idea. They were going to stop Wesker once and for all.

And he was waiting for them to come to him.

 **~End of Book IX~**


	11. Book X

**~Book X~**

This was going to be it. The final battle. The showdown with Albert Wesker. Charles had been apprehended and the Lamb had been reformed. Wesker had no more lackeys. There was nowhere for him to go.

"I doubt we'll be able to sneak up on him," Chris stated. "He'll know we're coming. He'll know we've defeated both his Lamb and Charles."

"Do you think he'll run?" asked Claire as both Rebecca and Steve helped her walk.

"Wesker doesn't run from me," Chris reminded her. "Besides, he always believes he has the advantage. If he somehow escaped death from that volcano, then he definitely believes he has the power of a god."

"It still doesn't make sense," Rebecca admitted. "How can someone come back from being blown up and disintegrated?"

"Maybe Ouroboros was stronger than I thought it was," Chris assumed.

"It's not Ouroboros," Steve spoke up. "This whole thing… it has nothing to do with Albert Wesker's survival." Chris turned his head to look back at Steve.

"What do you mean?" he queried. But, before Steve could answer, some Cerberus monsters swarmed their way towards the group. They looked like they were being controlled by something with the way they all moved as one unit towards a particular goal.

Instantly Chris, Billy and Steve worked together to fight the dogs, with Rebecca standing back with Claire. Steve had to use his bare hands to fight, which proved to be no problem for him, while Billy and Chris shot the creatures. During the relatively bearable fight, however, Chris caught sight of somebody standing high upon one of the old watch towers, staring down at the struggle.

Wesker.

Chris clenched his teeth together and continued to fight off the dogs, but he was focused on Wesker the whole time. "He's up there," he said quietly to his team as he punched a Cerberus to the ground. "He's controlling these mutts!"

"Let's get him," Billy responded, shooting another dog in the face and killing it. "We've got him now. He's only throwing these at us because he's cornered."

"Wesker!" Chris shouted, then turning his gun and firing up at Wesker. He missed his shots, since Wesker didn't even need to dodge, before the shade-wearing individual jumped down from the tower. Pink eyes glowed behind his shades…

Pink?

Wesker's eyes weren't pink before. If anything, they were red and gold. Had he injected himself with a new virus?

…The VX-Virus created by Elizabeth Bryant?

Chris ran towards Wesker to engage in hand-to-hand combat, but before he could even focus on his opponent, Wesker kicked him back swiftly by bringing his foot to Chris' face. Billy then ran forwards and attempted to shoot their final foe, but Wesker swiftly moved behind him and punched his back hard, bringing him to the ground. Even Steve, who was enhanced by his own virus, seemed to struggle with Wesker and went down easily, but Steve was able to distract him for long enough as Chris returned to his senses. The Redfield brother punched Wesker as hard as he could across the face, knocking him to the ground and knocking his shades to the ground.

With Wesker on the floor, everyone could only stare, ready to fight if he got back up again. Wesker rubbed his face and shifted slightly so that he was sitting up, and then he turned to face Chris with hatred. That's when Chris' blue eyes went wide.

This wasn't Wesker.

He would've been confused if it was a face he didn't recognize, but he knew this face.

Wesker hadn't said a word for a reason, because "his" voice would give "him" away.

"He" wasn't a man.

This was a woman.

With bright pink eyes.

This was Elizabeth Bryant.

"You…" Chris gasped, though he kept his guard up. "You're Elizabeth Bryant…"

She looked different, since her hair had definitely been bleached to become a lighter shade of blonde and she had cut it short and gelled it back. The long black coat she wore had disguised her feminine figure well – from a distance, at least. And her lack of make-up definitely helped make her look more masculine, since in the video footage she had worn plenty of make-up, especially around her eyes and lips. Age hadn't made her look any more feminine, either – in the videos he saw of her, Chris reckoned she was in her thirties, but now she was close to turning fifty.

Elizabeth got to her feet, with hatred burning in her glowing pink eyes. "Chris Redfield," she hissed with venom. "I've waited a long time to get my revenge on you."

"You know this broad?" Billy asked, raising a brow.

"Not really," Chris replied, not taking his eyes off Elizabeth. "I found some videos and files which she produced. She's the one who created the VX-Virus – an improved version of the t-Veronica virus."

"Clever boy," Elizabeth huffed. "The VX-Virus is one of the strongest viruses on the planet, and I am the reason it exists. It's a shame Albert isn't here to see it being used to destroy his most hated enemy."

"Why are you doing this?" Chris interrogated cautiously. He may have known a bit about Elizabeth, but he didn't know enough. He thought she had been killed at some point during Wesker's final attempt at infecting the world.

"Why?" Elizabeth responded before chuckling in a very unhinged manner. "You took away the man who meant everything to me! The man who gave me a purpose in this world!"

"He fooled you," Chris calmly responded. "He fooled me once, too, Elizabeth. He would've killed you once he was done with you, like he has done to many people who came before you."

Elizabeth could only laugh again. "But that's just it, darling," she corrected. "Nobody came before me. There were people who came during my time with him, and they were the ones to be disposed of. I went with him wherever he went. Umbrella. The Third Organization. Tricell. He never wanted to dispose of me. I was promised a place in his new world, and then you took that away from both of us!"

"Your place in his world would be in the ground once he was done using you!" Chris snapped. "He only wanted you because of your virus!"

"At lease he wanted me," Elizabeth murmured quietly. "There were so many who wanted him, Chris, and look what happened to them. Excella, for example. The bitch who tried to take him from me. He played with her because she was weak. She didn't deserve him. I wish I had been there to watch her die."

"You're insane," Chris spat.

"Hey," Billy spoke up, remaining calm. He offered his hand out to Elizabeth. "Listen, lady. It's not too late to end this madness. Wesker's gone."

"Wesker's hurt everybody here," Claire then spoke up from her distance. "Don't let him get into your head like this. It's not worth dying for him!"

"Dying?" Elizabeth grinned. "Darlings, you're all forgetting that I _helped_ him hurt you all! And who said I'd be the one dying?!"

Her pink eyes glowed bright and her fists started to ignite with flames. She went to punch Billy, but Steve predicted the move early and jumped in front of him, then catching Elizabeth's fist. A bright but small explosion occurred, causing the others to shield their eyes, but Elizabeth, once the shock had worn off, cackled.

"Ah, yes, I thought you'd turn against me, my little failure," she taunted, staring Steve in the eyes. Steve couldn't break eye-contact and began to grimace and cringe, as if he was internally trying to fight something. "It's a good thing that my VX-Virus allows me to control the t-Veronica virus, as well! Yes! I'll still make you work for me!"

"Steve!" Claire cried out, unable to help due to her wounded leg. Billy was the one to shoot at Elizabeth, making her let go of the redheaded man.

Steve fell to the ground, holding his head, but Elizabeth was going to keep on persisting. "Fight them, Steve. Kill them. Transform for me and wipe them all out!"

"I won't do that!" Steve snarled, but his body seemed to be stronger than his mind.

"Rebecca, I need you to get him outta here! Now!" Chris barked. "It's not safe for him to be near her!"

Rebecca immediately ran to Steve and pulled him away back towards Claire.

"Take them to where we're keeping Charles," Billy commanded calmly. "Chris and I will handle this hag."

Chris stared at Billy, surprised that he had offered to stand by his side and fight. Wasn't he supposed to be a criminal?

Maybe he was a good guy after all, like Rebecca had insisted.

"Billy…" Rebecca said to him before hesitantly nodding her head. "Be careful, okay?"

"Sure thing, doll face," Billy winked playfully, then returning his attention to Elizabeth as Rebecca fled with Steve and Claire.

"What's the point in saving Burnside when he's contagious?" Elizabeth mocked with a smirk. "Honestly, it's more humane to let him fight you to the death rather than putting him down like an old dog once he returns to civilisation."

"Stand down, Elizabeth," Chris commanded, ignoring what she had said. "We've warned you enough times. If you choose to fight now, then we'll have no choice but to use lethal force."

"You think you boys stand a chance against the VX-Virus?!" Elizabeth wailed with laughter as her feet became surrounded by fire. "Darling… you know nothing." A wave of fire burst from her, knocking both Chris and Billy away before they had the chance to shoot her, and when they next looked up, they saw her skin being burned away by flames, revealing a new layer which was dark green and scaly. Her sclera turned black and her hair turned a dark shade of purple, and her ears became almost like the fins of a fish. Her lips turned black, and then came what looked like the most painful part of her transformation. Dragonfly-like wings ripped out of her back, and, from the base of her spine, a green devil-like tail grew out and thrashed wildly, all the while she screamed and laughed at the same time. This form almost resembled the form of Alexia Ashford, but it was… perfected.

Even worse: Elizabeth's consciousness and intelligence hadn't changed at all.

With Elizabeth now flying high in the air, laughing like a mad witch, Chris and Billy could only stare up at her and keep their guns aimed in her direction.

"Shit!" Billy exclaimed. "What are we supposed to do?"

"She's out of range and she knows it," Chris figured out. "We need to lure her in somehow, but we can't trick her like how we've tricked other beasts in the past."

"We should try taking out her wings," Billy planned. "Once she swoops down here, we'll aim there. Then we cane keep her grounded for the rest of the fight."

"Sounds like a plan," Chris nodded.

"So, how should we lure her in?" Billy questioned.

"Like this," Chris answered, then breaking into a sprint and seemingly running away. Billy watched him and then shrugged his shoulders, proceeding to follow.

"There's no escape from me, Chris Redfield!" Elizabeth roared, swooping down and flying towards the two men. "I'll be the one to kill you! I will carry out the execution which Albert had planned for you!"

"Here she comes!" Billy shouted to Chris.

"Now!" Chris yelled. The pair stopped running and turned around, firing their bullets into Elizabeth's fragile wings. The mutated woman wailed like a distressed banshee and attempted to fly back in the air, but the men continued to shoot, luckily able to make her fall to the ground. Elizabeth snarled and pushed herself back up onto her feet, screaming with rage as her hands once again became alit with fire, and then she charged towards the pair.

"Okay, now what?" Billy asked, trying to remain calm and unpanicked.

"Shoot," was all Chris said. That's exactly what both men did. They shot at her, but she was difficult to damage, so Chris aimed at her eyes. One bullet hit one of her eyeballs, causing her to screech and stumble.

"Her skin's not easy to penetrate," Billy observed. "We're gonna need something stronger."

"Damn it," Chris rasped. "Her VX-Virus is an improved form of the t-Veronica. If this form of hers works like Alexia's… then we're gonna need a lot of fire power."

"Fire power on a fire-blooded monster?" Billy repeated. He sounded as if he were trying to make a joke, which wasn't appreciated by Chris.

The duo then turned their heads back to Elizabeth when they heard her screeching out yet another laugh. Her damaged wings spread wide and began to heal, stitching the damaged back together with fire.

"She can regenerate," Billy commented.

"I can see that," Chris grumbled. "Well, at lease we can damage her for a short period of time. Next time we get her down, we're gonna need a solid plan."

In that very moment, Elizabeth flew towards the pair with her arms out. She was focused on Chris, and Billy could see that. Chris looked ready to tackle her, although he knew he would get hurt, but Billy shoved him out of the way. Elizabeth's sharp black claws dug into the man's flesh, causing him to growl and grimace. Billy could usually handle pain, but with Elizabeth digging her nails down his skin and trying to burn him with her own blood, it was difficult for him not to react.

Chris immediately began shooting at Elizabeth to get her away from Billy, but the shots did no damage. However, Elizabeth's focus shifted and she grinned at Chris, throwing Billy to the ground before sweeping Chris off his feet and grabbing him by the arms. She gave Billy no time to try shooting at her, thus allowing her to fly up high into the air with Chris.

Elizabeth laughed loudly as she flew higher and higher into the air with Chris, knowing that she was out of Billy's range and also knowing that Chris wouldn't risk fighting her when he would only fall to his own death.

"Do you want to know why Albert kept me around for so long, Chris?" the mutated woman asked him with a sadistic snicker. She threw Chris into the air, prompting him to yell as loud as he could, but she just as quickly caught him and then dived down towards some of the barren mountains belonging to the island, slamming Chris into the side of one of the natural features and then holding him in place with her hand around his neck. "It wasn't because I was a weak little woman he needed something from." Her grip on his neck tightened as she started to choke him, and she brought her face closer to his. "It's because I was stronger than him." Elizabeth released her hold on Chris, and this caused him to slide down the side of the mountain, desperately trying to slow his descent. At the moment where he thought he would slam into a tall rock, Elizabeth once again grabbed him and flew towards ground, ramming his body into the dirt and dragging him through it. "If you honestly believed that Albert was a threat, then you are incredibly weak, darling!"

Chris could do nothing. He was becoming dazed and was hitting his head, no doubt developing a concussion. He couldn't lose without putting up a fight, but this insane woman wasn't giving him any chances to even lift a finger, yet at the same time she wasn't completely trying to kill him. She was toying with him because she wanted to see him suffer.

Elizabeth stood on Chris' back, keeping him pinned into the mucky ground. "It's over, Chris," she declared proudly. "At long last, Albert Wesker will be avenged!"

"Hey, green bitch," came the voice of Billy. Elizabeth turned her head sharply, her glowing pink eyes now locked onto the brown-haired man who dared to speak to her. He was unarmed, so was no doubt only trying to delay the inevitable, so Elizabeth could only let out a pitiful laugh.

"What do you want, darling?" she asked him, pressing her feet harder into Chris' back. "Do you want to say goodbye to your friend?"

"No," Billy replied with a shake of the head. "I'm saying goodbye to you."

Again, Elizabeth could only chortle. "You think that you can defeat me, do you?" she responded to his mild threat. Once again, Billy shook his head.

"Hell no," he said, then lifting his finger and pointing in the direction behind Elizabeth, "but I'm pretty sure he can."

Elizabeth raised a brow but then heard loud, rumbling footsteps bounding towards her. She swiftly turned her head, wide eyed, only to be swatted to the side by a large, mutated hand. A human-like roar came from the large, familiar creature who pounced after Elizabeth, and he grabbed her by her wings before peeling them off. Elizabeth shrieked and writhed in the monster's grasp as he now held her by her ankle, then proceeding to bash her hard against the ground as if trying to bang dirt off a shoe.

Billy ran to Chris and helped him stand. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah…" Chris replied hoarsely, then turning his head to look at the mutant battle. "What the hell did you do…?"

"Don't worry," Billy assured, "I have this under control."

"Is that Steve?" Chris questioned. Billy nodded.

"He's spent more than fifteen years with that virus in his body," Billy explained. "He has full control of himself, and I doubt Elizabeth's in a fit state to try taking control of him." Billy could see the uncertainty in Chris' expression as the other male stared at the fight with horror in his eyes. "Hey, we needed fire power, so there's the fire power."

"How are we going to turn him back to normal?" Chris enquired.

"Apparently, he can transform back to normal himself," Billy replied. "But I got an antidote just in case. Steve was carrying one with him, so he was obviously planning to use this form at some point while he was still acting as the Lamb."

Chris still looked horrified as he watched Steve beating the life out of Elizabeth. The virus may have been under control, but it was far too risky to have someone like Steve out in society. He was definitely going to be quarantined like Manuela was, and there were still no signs of any permanent cures…

Steve pinned Elizabeth on her back, digging his large claws into her torso and stomach. Elizabeth wailed as her fiery blood did nothing to protect her from her attacker, and all she could do was stare into his blood red eyes. She kept eye-contact, hoping that maybe she could still take control of his mind, but it was futile. Steve was in control. Steve was stronger, and he deliberately kept his own eyes locked with hers just to prove that point.

The larger mutant leaned in closer, with his face practically touching Elizabeth's. He could see that she was afraid, and that's exactly what she deserved to feel after she put him through all those years of torture and isolation. His body was no longer her experiment.

His lips then parted, and the mutated Steve was able to force out one word in his monstrous, animal-like tone of voice.

"Pay… back…"

Steve's claws only dug deeper into Elizabeth's green flesh, and it was obvious that he had reached her vital organs. Elizabeth's eyes went wide and the glowing pink of her irises even seemed to flicker, and she could swear that she was seeing her life flashing before her very eyes…

 **~End of Book X~**


	12. Book XI: Bryant

**~Book XI: Bryant~**

She just wanted to get somewhere in life after graduating from university. She was a biology graduate in the UK, born in Manchester. Good education and family wealth helped get her out there (of course, she had to start with simple jobs like working in a pharmacy or as a doctor's assistant), but nothing made her stand out more than her natural talent and interests. Out of sheer boredom, she would take basic viruses and experiment with them by mixing them together, seeing what she could create in her spare time. This interest is what led to her being employed by Umbrella, the company she believed to be just another pharmaceutics company – and a good one, at that.

She would do research or she would go about discovering new ways to treat diseases, illnesses and wounds. No one could doubt her talent and intelligence.

But one day, her loyalty to the company was unknowingly put to the test.

Email addresses would often begin with the initial of an employee's first name and continue with the surname. For example, Elizabeth's email address was "ebryant". She found herself tagged in an email sent to other employees, and the email looked like this:

 _To the select few who are reading this,_

 _We have received reports of new viruses which could potentially exist in other parts of the world, and we need you to retrieve them if the rumours are true. You have all been assigned to different locations to investigate:_

The email listed the other users, but Elizabeth had scrolled down to the one addressed to her.

 _Bryan: You are to investigate Asia. Sources have not been able to confirm which location contains the potential new virus, and the country within the continent has also not been confirmed._

 _ **THIS EMAIL IS CONFIDENTIAL. ANYONE WHO SHARES THE INFORMATION WITHIN THIS DOCUMENT WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES.**_

It was a little odd that her surname had been misspelled, as it missed the "t" at the end of it, but it didn't bother her. She did as she was told. She travelled to Asia and hopped from country to country and took notes on one particular common denominator: in the countryside, particularly in the villages, people would fall ill in identical ways if there were these strange pink roses nearby. Elizabeth chose to secure some of these roses and travelled back home to the United Kingdom.

She worked hard on those roses for months, managing to extract a sample of a virus, and she had even started mixing it with the viruses she had access to, but one night while she was working, she heard a click behind her head, and turning around only brought her brown eyes to face down the barrel of a pistol. Holding onto the pistol was a man she was unfamiliar with – an intruder. It had to be. He wore dark clothes and had his blond hair slicked back with gel, and he wore sunglasses to cover his eyes and possibly to even make it harder to identify him. Why else would he wear sunglasses at night?

Elizabeth, honestly, did not know how to react. If she moved, this man would pull the trigger. If she didn't… he still would.

"It was inevitable that one day the director would make a mistake," the man said in a somewhat smug tone. "Elias hasn't done any research. Only now has it been discovered that you received that email on his behalf."

Elias?

…Elias Bryan.

.

.

That's why her name was misspelled in the email.

It was not for her.

"So, I don't suppose you're going to tell me who else knows of your little trip to Asia?" the man questioned. He sounded like he was trying to be somewhat gentle, but at the same time he was trying to sound apathetic and smug.

She… hadn't told anyone about her trip.

"Nobody knows," Elizabeth practically whispered, her eyes still staring into the darkness of the barrel. "The email… it was confidential."

The man was silent, although his expression didn't change and his gun did not lower. "Mm," he eventually sounded while thinking about what to do now.

Elizabeth attempted to break the tension to save her own life, knowing that one wrong move or no move at all could result in her end. "I… extracted some virus samples," she announced, gesturing to the vials she was currently working with. The blond man lifted his head slightly to look at them.

"I see," he murmured. "Tell me, what have you discovered so far?"

"Well… I haven't done too much," Elizabeth admitted. "All I know is that the virus itself, which I have named the PR-Virus, makes others unwell when exposed to it. I've… even been mixing it with other strands such as the Ebola virus to see how dangerous it can become."

Even behind his shades, the man clearly was raising an eyebrow. "Nobody was told to mix the viruses with others," he pointed out.

"I know, that's… just my hobby," Elizabeth slipped out, immediately growing worried. Saying that might make her seem like a disobedient or corrupt employee.

"Hobby," the man nodded. He pressed the gun against Elizabeth's forehead. "Tell me more. Perhaps I will let you live… if you are worth sparing."

Now Elizabeth was panicking. One wrong sentence could be the end of her. Then again, how could she even be sure this guy intended to let her live at all? He might just want her information so that he could steal it for himself.

"I… find it interesting to mix viruses," Elizabeth explained quietly. "I did it before I joined Umbrella."

"Why?" the man pressed.

"It's just interesting," Elizabeth repeated. "I don't really know what I would do with such a pass time, to be honest… It just gives me something to do."

The man looked like he wanted to smirk, but he didn't. "How would you feel about mixing viruses such as the PR-Virus with others, but as an official job?" he asked openly. "If you accept, you will have access to the top-secret viruses only few Umbrella employees ever hear of. You will continue your research on the PR-Virus in your own lab. You will even be given human test subjects."

…Human test subjects?

"We test on… humans?" Elizabeth queried, her brown eyes wider than before.

"Yes," the man answered simply. "We perform inhumane experiments on them. We have viruses which can turn them into monsters. Weapons. Perhaps you could be useful in that field."

…He had told her too much, and she knew that. If she declined the offer, she was going to be killed.

"So then, Elizabeth Bryant, would such a promotion interest you?" the man asked her.

"…I have no other choice, do I?" Elizabeth reacted.

"Either your life changes or your life ends," the man pointed out. "And if you accept the offer but attempt to hide, we will find you. In fact… I'm certain that we'll do worse than kill you. So, make your choice now, Elizabeth, or else I will make it for you."

She simply could not refuse.

"…Alright," the young woman nodded. "I'll do whatever tasks I'm asked to do. I won't let you guys down."

The man could not contain a sinister smirk, but thankfully he lowered his gun. He pulled Elizabeth to her feet in a strong and swift motion. "I certainly hope you won't be a disappointment," he commented.

"I will not fail Umbrella," Elizabeth declared. The man simply nodded.

"Follow me," he then commanded. "We will be returning, and there we will discuss your future." As he began walking, Elizabeth hesitantly spoke up.

"Wait," she called, causing the man to stop his movement. "I don't recognise you at all. Who are you?"

She couldn't see his face, but she knew he was smirking again.

"My name is Albert Wesker."

At the time, the name meant nothing to her. He was just someone sent to kill her. She didn't doubt that she'd encounter him again during this new job of hers, but she didn't expect to have him take over her life in more ways than one.

She worked in the same field as the man known as Albert Wesker, and he was constantly keeping his eye on her. Nobody trusted her. Not someone who was so young with no past experience with Umbrella. Everyone expected her to break at some point, but she didn't.

Well, not for a while, at least.

Elizabeth was still doing research with the PR-Virus when Albert decided to turn his back on Umbrella. He knew that the virus had potential, from what he had seen of it, and had ideas for its potential use, but he needed Elizabeth with him if he wanted that virus. She knew everything about the virus and had strengthened herself to not blab to others. So, instead of attempting to steal it from her, he instead decided to bring her with him on his journey of betrayal. He promised her safety so long as she continued to work on the virus. Elizabeth had willingly accepted the offer, much to Albert's relief – he could not afford to risk leaving any information on the opposing side.

The young woman had continued with her research without getting involved with anything Albert did, but one day he came to her with something she thought she had gotten herself used to: a dead body. Barely even a man. This must have been the youngest individual for her to work on – usually she would experiment on living subjects who were much older.

"I need you to secure a sample of the t-Veronica virus from this body," Albert commanded. "You'll know what it is when you see it. And I need you to be very careful – this body is the last source for it."

"What happened to Alexia?" Elizabeth queried out of curiosity. "Wasn't she your primary target."

"Chris Redfield happened," Albert snarled. "Luckily, Alexia had infected this boy before her own death. Now, get on with it."

Of course, Elizabeth did as she was told. She cut at the boy's flesh, inspecting his fatal wound before delving into other intact parts of his body. She secured a sample for Albert, but he pushed her to gather more, telling her that she should keep three samples for herself so that she could experiment with the PR-Virus.

Something unusual began to happen, however. Elizabeth would come back every day and enter the room where the boy's body was being preserved, but she had started to notice that his large abdomen wound was gradually getting smaller.

It was healing.

Originally, Elizabeth just ignored this. This could have just been the virus reconstructing the tissue so that it could spread. The young woman even expected to see the boy become some kind of zombie, but something even worse happened.

She returned one day, only to find him sitting upright and rubbing his forehead, brushing his ginger hair out of his face. He wasn't moving like a zombie at all. He was moving like… a normal human.

The boy had his other hand resting against his wound, which was still present and clearly painful to him. His blue eyes reopened and immediately spotted Elizabeth, but he didn't look at all terrified. He just looked confused.

"Where… am I…?" he asked quietly.

Elizabeth couldn't answer. This was not an outcome she had expected. The boy was alive, and he had retained his will. All she did was slip straight out of the room, running desperately through the facility to find Albert.

"Albert!" she called, disturbing the man from his other duties, much to his irritation. "Th-The boy…! The t-Veronica one…! He's alive…!"

Albert looked severely unamused. "Alive?" he repeated. "Are you telling me that he is a walking corpse?"

"It's not like that!" Elizabeth told him. "He's actually alive! He's talking and everything!"

Still unimpressed, Albert chose to follow Elizabeth back to the isolated room, where indeed he saw Steve Burnside sitting upright with a confused expression on his face. He turned his head to face the duo, still not knowing what was going on.

"Hey… can one of you please tell me what's going on…?" he pleaded. "What happened to Claire…? Is she okay…?"

Albert's expression didn't change for a few seconds before he emitted a sinister chuckle through his teeth. Elizabeth was confused by this, and could see the teenager's growing expression of worry. Albert's following words didn't clear things up too much, but it gave Elizabeth some kind of understanding.

"When I told Claire that you would be coming back to life, Steve, it was supposed to be a joke," he mocked, stepping closer to the boy. "But it seems that your virus was able to do just that."

"What…?" Steve slowly reacted. "I… I don't understand… Who are you…?"

"Elizabeth, keep working on him," Albert instructed calmly. "There must be plenty more we can take from him."

"You want me to take samples from him while he's alive…?" Elizabeth asked Albert with obvious uncertainty. Albert nodded.

"That's an order," he reminded her. "Failure to follow orders… Well, I suppose you know the drill by now, don't you?"

"But he'll move and fight back," Elizabeth pointed out.

"Restrain him," was Albert's only response. He stared intensely at Elizabeth to watch her reaction, and it was clear to him that she didn't have the stomach to be so aggressive towards someone.

No doubt that would soon change.

"I will be checking on you shortly," the man stated. "Do not disappoint me, Elizabeth. I expect to see more vials containing the t-Veronica virus." With that said, he left the room.

Steve made an attempt to stand, not at all liking what he had just heard. "You think I won't hit you because you're a lady?" he growled, having to lean against the table with one hand as the other still held his large wound.

"Get back on the table," Elizabeth commanded, but by no means was she as emotionless as her superior. Steve bared his teeth and shook his head.

"Go to hell!" he snapped.

"They'll kill you if you try to escape," Elizabeth pointed out, struggling to maintain eye-contact at this point. "If they want me to work on you while you're alive, they don't intend to kill you. …They might let you go."

She knew that wasn't true, but she couldn't use brute force to pin this boy down. He would fight back and most likely do some damage to her, and he may even infect her with the virus. All it would take was a single bite.

Steve didn't look convinced, so Elizabeth decided to throw something out there. Something that Albert had just mentioned.

"What about Claire?" she asked the teen, seeing his eyes widen. "Do you want to see her again?"

Steve clenched his fists. "You won't let me see her…" he growled. "You're just going to kill me!"

"I would've killed you by now if I wanted to do that," Elizabeth said to him. "Just… do as you're told."

"No!" Steve roared. Elizabeth couldn't reason with him, so she had to use force. She tried to pin him down but he was still stronger than her, even in his wounded state, so she managed to hit his head against the table.

He stopped moving.

He was still breathing, but he had stopped moving. Elizabeth let out a sigh of relief and heaved him up onto the table, restraining him while he was unconscious.

She started to work…

It was easier than she thought it would be.

…Until he woke up.

"Hey!" he snapped at her, grimacing from the pain. "What the hell are you doing?! Get off me!"

"I can't do that," Elizabeth muttered. She used a scalpel to cut away more of Steve's wounded flesh, and the teen howled in agony.

"Stop!" he pleaded. "It hurts!"

She had to keep going.

Her hands trembled and her breaths struggled to go in and out of her lungs, with water growing over her brown eyes.

She was trying so hard to zone out as she worked, but his screaming was the only sound filling the silent room. He was wailing and sobbing, begging for the agony to stop, stating that death would be so much more merciful, but not once did she stop. Not until Albert came back in.

"I see you have gotten used to your current situation," he said to her.

"I've gathered more samples…" Elizabeth murmured, not looking at her superior.

"Good," Albert nodded, then eyeing Steve. "We don't want to risk allowing him to succumb to blood loss. Let him heal, and then come back."

Elizabeth did just that, but she couldn't get his harrowing screams out of her head. She worked further on the PR-Virus and used her own t-Veronica samples to fuse the two together, creating…

The VX-Virus.

This was a stronger form of the t-Veronica. It would allow the host to maintain their mind immediately after infusion, thanks to the PR-Virus being something the human mind could adapt to. An individual would be able to control when they transformed, too, and they would be able to keep said transformation under control both mentally and physically. So many mutant forms just grew and grew, but not the forms of the VX-Virus.

Elizabeth was in no fit state to be working. Not after cutting open a fully-aware teenage boy. Even worse: Albert had informed her of his past. She knew that he was sent to Rockfort Island because of his father – a former Umbrella employee. She knew what pain he went through there, and what he suffered afterwards. …This wasn't right.

At some point she had even vomited, but she couldn't let anyone see her weakness. Otherwise she might just end up like Steve herself.

With some form of hesitation, Elizabeth held a syringe to her arm which contained the pink fluid. If she injected herself with this, there was no going back. But she had to. It would strengthen her.

…And it would protect her if anyone tried to backstab her.

Needing to look away, Elizabeth thrust the needle into her arm and pressed down, pushing the liquid into her bloodstream. Her eyes grew wide, and slowly her irises went from brown to pink. It felt like she had just injected fire into her veins, and she was barely certain that she would survive.

Everything she saw was white. Was she going to be permanently blind? No, that shouldn't be her concern. Her stomach was clenching and cramping and every muscle in her body tightened. Her stomach acids were burning her, as was her blood, and a loud ringing was in her ears. This was just pure agony. Saliva even leaked from her mouth as if she were having some sort of seizure.

Albert had been observing, and eventually he burst into her room and grabbed her, pulling her up to her feet and trying to get her to face him.

"What have you done?" he hissed. Elizabeth was unable to stay focused on him, but after hearing the vague sound of his voice, she grabbed onto him firmly.

"Albert…!" she wavered as she wept. "I'm on fire…!"

"Get a hold of yourself," Albert commanded, backhanding her hard across the face so she fell to the ground. Elizabeth twitched and trembled, shocked, but slowly she seemed to regain herself. Her vision blurred but then cleared. The ringing in her ears vanished. The burning inside her cooled down, and her tight muscles loosened.

Slowly she lifted her head as mascara ran down her face, but the tears were no longer there. Her pink eyes glowed brightly as she stared at Albert, who looked as empty as always, if not with a hint of some kind of concern.

"Is this the PR-Virus?" he asked her as she staggered to her feet. Elizabeth shook her head.

"No…" she answered. "This is the VX-Virus."

She had to adjust to her new body, of course, but that didn't take long. Soon enough she was back to researching on Steve, only this time she lacked all empathy for him. She had gotten used to his screaming, and so had he.

But Elizabeth noticed something. Steve's wound had healed with green, mutated flesh, and the surrounding veins were also tinted green in colour. This wasn't a good sign.

The pink-eyed woman once again approached Albert and explained everything to him, and when he examined Steve for himself, he immediately had a plan.

"I have a small number of cryogenic chambers ready for use," he announced. "They were built for potential t-Veronica experiments. Put Steve into one of them; we'll come back for him in fifteen years."

"N-No…!" Steve protested. "I-I'm seventeen…! I've got college a-and friends…!"

"Your body is slowly giving in to the virus," Albert pointed out. "If you don't allow yourself to adjust by slowing down the process with cryogenic freezing, then you will become a monster again."

Elizabeth took off his restraints, seeing that he couldn't fight back anymore. He was in even more pain with his mutating wound, and he was constantly fighting for control in his own body.

He was weeping as she set him up, and Elizabeth stared right at him as unconsciousness was forced upon him.

Fifteen years would be a long time, so in the meantime she would continue her work with the VX-Virus.

Time went by. Elizabeth produced more samples of the VX-Virus, and she herself went through some changes.

She was confident. She was proud. But at the same time, she was unstable. She would beg Albert to let her help him, but instead she would always work in the background, following him from company to company.

And then they joined Tricell.

The more she worked with him, the more she was certain that he cared about her, but at the same time, she knew that he wanted her for her power. He was strong, but she was stronger. They both knew that. Elizabeth could make the world hers using her virus, but she didn't. Why?

…Because she didn't want to hurt Albert.

He was her weakness. She had spent so much time with him that she couldn't bring herself to turn the tables. She preferred being there when he needed her, and one day she knew that her virus would play a huge part in the new world he desired to create.

But Albert made a virus known as Uroboros, and that brought Elizabeth's vision crashing down.

He was being funded by a woman known as Excella Gionne, who Elizabeth immediately disliked. She could see what she wanted from Albert, but she wasn't going to get it.

Even though she knew this, Elizabeth could not control her jealousy. One day, when Albert was not present, Excella and Elizabeth crossed paths when doing their own research, with Elizabeth's various jobs being rather insignificant compared to Excella's.

"Does it hurt you to see that Albert wants my intelligence, not yours?" the black-haired woman asked. Elizabeth scowled and turned to face her.

"And what makes you say that, darling?" she pressed. Excella chuckled.

"He says you have been with him for a long time," she explained, "but now I am here. The world he wants… it's not for you, Doctor Bryant. It's for me and him. I will be his queen. You will… well, I'm sure he will give you a grand farewell party."

Elizabeth stepped closer to her. "I have something you don't have, darling," she told the other woman. "I have the VX-Virus. It's currently coursing through my veins as we speak. I could burn you up right now, but unfortunately Albert needs to use you for a little longer."

"It is you he is using," Excella frowned, with her hands placed on her own hips. "Your virus was produced long ago. It is out-dated. Uroboros will crush it."

Elizabeth marched closer to Excella, but the woman didn't seem at all threatened. "Watch what you say," the English woman snarled. "I can kill you easily."

She was suddenly pulled back and turned around, but before she could process who had grabbed her, she was slapped hard across the face, the force knocking her to the ground.

"Control yourself, Elizabeth," Albert calmly commanded, though a hint of frustration was in his voice. "I will be speaking with you about this matter later."

He always carried out his plans.

Later that day, the pair were alone together, and within a few seconds, Albert had Elizabeth pinned against the wall. One hand was around her throat, and his grip was by no means gentle. His golden-red eyes glowed brightly behind his shades.

"Are you trying to get in my way, Elizabeth?" he snarled through clenched teeth. "I need Excella for my Uroboros project. Control your hormones or else I'll make you my next test subject. Have I made myself clear?"

Elizabeth tried to nod, and Albert threw her to the ground.

Some time ago, such an action would have hurt Elizabeth. But she had grown used to it.

Not only that, but she could handle it.

The blonde woman pushed herself up to her feet, rubbing her own neck as she frowned at the man before her. "No need to be so rough, darling," she mumbled.

"Talking back again, I see," Wesker observed coldly. "Hmph. You women are all the same."

"You honestly think I'm the same as Excella?" Elizabeth snapped back at him suddenly. "I can assure you, we're quite different. She can only dream of the power I am capable of tapping into, but if she were to have a mere taste, her body would shut down."

Albert stared at her, as if examining her from afar and working out a complex equation in his head just to answer her question. Was she like Excella? No. She was not. There were some similarities, but their differences were much more apparent.

"No," the man then said to her, having not really focused on anything Elizabeth had said after her initial question. "You are not like Excella, Elizabeth."

It was merely an observation, but to Elizabeth it was so much more than that. It made her visibly grin. This was a reaction Albert expected from her, but it didn't bother him. He was so used to it now.

The blond man simply rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. "I suggest you stay out of my sight so that I can make progress on my work," he commanded. "Failure to follow even this command will put you in a… dislikeable predicament."

He didn't let her question him and he left the room. This conversation didn't bother Elizabeth at the time, because she knew she would see him again.

But she didn't.

One day she found a note attached to the door of the room she slept in at the time. A note written clearly in Albert's handwriting.

 _Elizabeth,_

 _I need you to stay out of my business with Tricell._

 _Don't think I haven't seen how you and Excella glare and squabble like pathetic children. Your fights are preventing progress from being made, and I'm growing impatient._

 _This letter comes to you handwritten because, thanks to you, Excella does not trust me. I'd rather not have her intercepting my digital messages._

 _While I have your attention, let me give you some instructions, since our contact will have to be cut for some time: I need you to continue working on your virus projects. Uroboros is weak to fire, so when those with imperfect DNA transform into disobedient pests, I need you to dispose of them with a perfected VX-Virus._

 _If you make any attempt to contact me, I will kill you without hesitation. All I want from you is that virus. Update me on the progress when I next contact you, and if progression is slow then there will be consequences._

 _Do not fail me._

 _-Wesker_

 _For the first part of the letter, Elizabeth felt her heart beat faster with rage, but she contained herself when seeing the instructions Albert had left for her. He trusted her. He trusted her more than Excella. He truly did want to rule the new world with her at his side, because both of their viruses were powerful and could work together! Her VX-Virus could destroy Ouroboros' rogue mutants! It was perfect._

 _…But it wasn't to be._

 _News had travelled to her fast about Albert's showdown with Chris. The woman did her best to show up to the scene, maybe to fight by Albert's side even if he didn't want her to, or maybe to help him if he was wounded._

 _A volcano was an odd place for a fight…_

 _It was impossible to reach the destination in time to save Albert._

 _Upon arrival, there was nothing. Chris wasn't there. Albert's crashed plane was still visible. A small part of Elizabeth hoped he was still there and forced her to inspect as much as she could, but nothing._

 _All she could find on the ledge she stood on was a pair of shattered glasses._

 _Shades._

 _Just like the ones Albert wore._

 _Her hands trembled. Was this truly all she had left of him?_

 _…It had to be._

 _Ouroboros had a weakness to fire. Where there's lava, there's fire. If the fight had ended, Albert must have been killed, and this time there was no coming back to life, because his body was gone._

 _Jump._

 _Jump in._

 _Join him._

 _…No._

 _That's not what he would have wanted._

 _He wanted her to use her virus to destroy the current world. He had asked for her to continue working on her virus projects. With him gone, it was up to her to take his place._

 _And that's exactly what she did._

 _She became Albert. She cut her hair and bleached it into a brighter shade of blonde. She flattened her chest as much as she could. She wore his style of clothes – long black coat and shades included – and stopped wearing make-up. She had to make sure Chris died seeing Albert's face. That was what that man deserved._

 _Elizabeth was so lost during this time, so the memories to her were still very vague despite being recent, but she did remember meeting Charles Fox. Charles, the young man who was the son of Alfred Ashford. They shared a mutual hatred for the Redfields, and that is why they teamed up to destroy them. Elizabeth was certain that her original t-Veronica subject, the boy who had become a man in hibernation, would be useful. Charles believed in her. They turned that boy into an assassin with a face Claire Redfield definitely could not harm, while the body was something Chris struggled to battle with._

 _And even the Lamb did not work._

 _She had come so close and worked so hard to put an end to Chris Redfield's life, just to avenge her beloved Albert Wesker…_

 _And not she was at the mercy of her own monster's brutality._

 _ **~End of Book XI: Bryant~**_


End file.
